


We are linked by this bond

by aphrodite161701



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-30
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-08-10 00:34:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16460081
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aphrodite161701/pseuds/aphrodite161701
Summary: Oliver watched helplessly as Felicity was killed before his eyes. Soon he sees her in his dreams and she seems so real, warning him of imminent danger.  Are the pair are truly linked across time and space? Is she really gone?  Are these dreams or reality?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I had previously posted this story but removed it since I was having several difficulties with the French/English translation. But I recently had the chance to virtually meet someone who offered to help fix the translation.  
> Thus, now I have the chance to post this story again. I hope that you will like it, English is not my mother tongue. Thank you my Beta LIngall

Oliver was discreetly watching Felicity who sat in front of her computer doing research on a drug that was circulating at the docks. They had caught a few small-time dealers, but knew that a bigger fish was at the top of the pyramid. Since Slade had been shut up in the Argus bunker on the island, the nights of patrol were quite quiet. From time to time they helped the police, essentially monitoring the streets preventing fights or rapes.

He realized that something had been bothering Felicity for a few days. Oliver had tried to talk to her but she had reassured him, telling him that it was nothing serious, that he didn't have to worry. Felicity had to know that he would always worry about her, even more since that night in the mansion. He had not been able to tell her on the beach, that what he told her, the words he delivered that night, weren't a lie, even as she explained to him that his plan was great and that he had sold it too. 

It was hard at first, after leaving the island, the young woman pulled away from him, avoiding being alone in the bunker while in his company. After a few weeks things fell back into place naturally, and it felt as if their friendship had risen to the top again. Even though there were times when he wanted to go to her and take her into his arms, he wouldn't allow himself. She would be in danger if someone knew how he felt for the young computer scientist. He would not run the risk, even if it meant he could never be with her. Felicity was the one person who knew and understood him best, along with Diggle, and their friendship was very important to him. Their friendship was enough for him, at least that was what he told himself. 

Oliver approached her and gently put his hand on her shoulder. Felicity jumped which surprised him, as he thought she was accustomed to his shoulder touches. The archer saw her regain her composure, turn to him and smile. Then she turned away as Oliver began to fix his gaze on her more intensely. He saw that her eyes no longer had the flame that he loved so much, or the joy that very much defined Felicity.

"Tell me what's going on. You haven’t said anything all day, you’ve seemed sad for the past several days."

"It's because there is nothing to explain," as she planted her blue eyes on his, determined to prove to him that it was nothing serious.

“Don't worry Oliver. Trust me, you know I'd tell you if something was wrong... well maybe not tell you... because you're you and I'm just me... but I'll talk to Dig or Roy…It’s not that you're not worthy to listen to me, it's just that it's you.”

Her babbling had returned in full force, which made Oliver smile.

“I trust you Felicity and I understand but...” he began but she cut him off.

“Please Oliver, stop watching out for me, I'm not going to break. There is no problem."

He realized that he would have to give her some time to open up about her feelings. 

"Do you want to go to Big Belly Burger with us?

"Yes I do," she said forcing herself to smile.

"Great,” as he smiled in return, “I'll get ready and then we'll go."

He advanced toward Diggle and Roy who were training on the mat to announce they would all go eat together at Big Belly Burger. Oliver was determined to find out what was bothering his IT girl and to help her deal with her problems, whatever they were. He had learned a long time ago that he should never force Felicity to open up to him or Diggle.

To his side Felicity swallowed a sob, not wanting her friends see her tears. She was so deep in thought that she jumped at the sound of her phone. 

When Oliver came out of the bathroom he grabbed his leather jacket and set off towards the stairs with Diggle. He did not see Felicity wipe a tear rolling down her cheek, or type a message on her phone. Felicity exhaled to give herself courage. She put a smile on her face and went to join her friends at the stairs.

When they arrived at the Big Belly Burger, John waved to Carly to advertise their arrival and moved to a table with his friends. Carly arrived ten minutes later with their trays, she no longer needed to take their order, since she knew it by heart.

The group spoke of QC and the progress of work in the city following the rampage of Slade but Oliver realized that his pretty computer scientist wasn't smiling, and was looking at her watch every five minutes. 

At bit later Felicity excused herself for a moment and went to the bathroom. Oliver followed her with his gaze. He needed to understand what had been up with her for the past two weeks. Once she was out of sight he resumed his discussion with Diggle. 

Ten minutes later, a pale Felicity walked toward them. Oliver got up as soon as he saw her and walked directly over to her.

"Felicity are you all right?"

"No. I don't feel very well. I think I'll go"

"Let me walk you to your house."

She accepted his offer and they waved to Diggle and Roy and stepped out into the cold. Felicity stopped in front of the bay window of restaurant, looking sadly at her two friends who continued to talk while eating, and then turned her face toward Oliver thanking him for taking her home with a smile.

"Thank you for waiting until I am ready to talk to you."

The archer smiled, he knew she was in trouble even though she said the opposite. "You're important to me... you're my friend, I worry that something is bothering you."

"I know," as she smiled sadly at him, "and I hope that you’ll understand and that you..."

She did not have time to finish her sentence as two shots were heard echoing through the night. The vigilante's body stretched as he flung himself towards Felicity. He got up and felt that his shirt was wet. He checked his body for bullet wounds, and finding none, his gaze fell on Felicity who laid on the cold concrete of the sidewalk. It was then that he knew whence this moisture came. 

"Felicity!" he cried, “Please, not you."

Oliver knelt down beside the young woman. He saw the burn marks on her shirt, and the place where the bullets had struck twice in her chest. He took off his leather jacket and pushed it down on the wounds, hoping to stop the abundant flow of blood.

"No," he repeated again. A sob tore his heart and continued his rise in his throat.

"Hold on Felicity."

Scared, Oliver took Felicity’s wrist to feel for a pulse. After a few seconds that felt like hours he found her pulse, it was weak but present. John and Roy, who had been in the restaurant until that time, had first heard the shots and then saw Oliver pounce on Felicity. Diggle asked Carly to dial 911 while running in the direction where Oliver and Felicity were on the ground.

When they arrived they were troubled by the pale face of the young woman and the expression on Oliver’s face, fear. Never had they seen that look on him, anger, rage, pain... yes... but never fear. In the background, they could already hear the sirens that resembled a chime of death. With a pale face too, Oliver stared at his IT girl.

"Please," his voice trembling, "Felicity stay with me. Don't leave me, I need you.”

Her breathing was labored, and the vigilante panicked.

"Felicity look at me so that I can see your beautiful eyes smiling at me, I beg of you, open your eyes.”

But the young woman kept her eyes closed and her breathing slowed further. The archer felt an intense pain form in his belly as he stopped talking. He continued to hold her hand, his eyes full of fear, hoping for the rescuers to arrive soon.

'Baby..." it was almost a whisper followed of another plea, "I beg you." his hands trembled violently and he felt his heart slow down. He pressed harder on her wounds, hoping that they would stop bleeding.

The paramedics arrived, pushed Oliver out of the way with difficulty and reached the young woman. They immediately began first aid, they inserted a flexible tube to her mouth to try to stabilize her condition. Then carefully, they laid her on the stretcher and put her in the ambulance. 

Oliver remained kneeling, watching the ambulance go and in a breath of martyrdom shouted 'Felicity'. His eyes rested on the leather jacket which was covered with blood, the blood of the woman who counted the most to him.

Diggle approached and gently touched the arm of his friend, and the young man stood up softly his eyes staring straight ahead. "We need to go to the hospital Oliver, it will be all right you'll see our friend is a fighter."

"Yes I know... And then after I'll track down and kill the bastard who shot her!"

The archer was angry thinking about the shooter who had made trouble for Felicity. The three men ran to the car, each wondering how their life would be like if Felicity don't make it out alive.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver, Diggle and Roy anxiously await news on their fallen friend. Will their 'worst fears come to pass ? Why does Oliver feel a connection with Felicity - even though it appears that she is gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to LIngall Ma beta for help with translation on this chapter

Oliver, John and Roy arrived at the hospital ten minutes after the ambulance dropped off Felicity at the hospital. The vigilante ran directly to the nurses’' station and asked for news of her condition. A redheaded woman explained that Felicity had been taken back immediately and that they would had to wait outside the door at the end of the hallway.

It had been several hours since they began their wait for news of their IT girl. Oliver continued to pace in front of the doors of the emergency room. He was trying to remember even the slightest details from when they were out of the restaurant, from when the sounds of the shots had rung in the night and when he had thrown himself on Felicity to protect her. 

He was so angry that he had not been quick enough to save her, and had also not realized the imminent threat. His senses were usually always on alert, but not tonight. This evening he had worried about her, but also about the reason that had made her sad in the last few days. Oliver’s attention had been so focused on Felicity only and she had paid the price.

Becoming crazy after watching him walk back and forth before him like this, John asked him to sit down.

"Stop brooding. You know what happened tonight’s not your fault."

"Of course it's my fault Dig. Our evening work made her a target"

"Firstly, she was with Oliver Queen tonight, not the Arrow."

"Then tell me why she is in this emergency room between life and death!" shouted Oliver.

"If it's not because of me. Who would want to hurt her, she is the most amiable, sweetest woman we know. Well, I'll tell you, no one. The shots were meant for me.”

"You don't know that Oliver, everything doesn't concern you, everything doesn’t revolve around you. Maybe she wasn't even the target. Maybe the shooter wanted to target someone else in the restaurant or on the street and missed his shot," said John doing everything he could to calm the archer.

Oliver was going to protest again when a doctor came out of surgery and approached them.

"Are you here for Ms Smoak?"

"Yes" answered Diggle. "I'm her emergency contact. My name is John Diggle, and here are her friends Oliver Queen and Roy Harper," he said, presenting him with the two men at his side.

The surgeon had a serious look for each man, he dared not yet speak, he never enjoyed sharing bad news. He somehow knew that this one it would be even harder than normal.

"I am really sorry gentlemen," he began "she did not survive her wounds." He looked at the three men becoming pale at his words. "She was shot in the aorta and also in the left lung. "We did everything to save her, but she had a hemorrhage during the operation and..."

"No this is not possible," hurled Oliver, shaking his head, "I ... she can't be gone."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Queen, Ms Smoak died a few minutes ago."

On hearing the word death, Oliver turned pale and gasped again. Everything blurred around him. He remained unfocused on the discussion with the doctor, the noise of the hospital phones, and the blow that Roy gave to the walls. The muscles of his jaw contracted, his body coiled and he closed his eyes to calm down.

It was then that he saw Felicity's smiling face appearing before him, her beautiful blue eyes staring at him intently. He opened his eyes instantly and bypassed the doctor to pass through the door behind him.

"I want to see her," he shouted.

John grabbed him by the arm and blocked his path. "I don't think it's a good idea Oliver. I don't think you want to remember her in this state, in a hospital, lying on a table, with blood and tubes everywhere."

"Of course not but I don't want to think of her all alone out there," he howled.

His body began to tremble and he did everything to push back against Diggle. 

"When I closed my eyes she was in front of me, I am sure she is still alive, there is no other possible option. I must see her to ask for her forgiveness, you understand Dig, and she will stay with me."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Queen, but Ms. Smoak is sadly deceased. I advise you to listen to your friend, who is absolutely right. If you go through those doors, what you're going to see will haunt you for the rest of your life."

"I don't care!" yelled the archer. I must see her, I must find out for myself that she ... that I have really lost her. My family has made enough donations to this hospital, I have the right to pass through these doors!"

The doctor sighed and capitulated. "Wait for me here sir, I'll be back soon."

"Oliver you shouldn't go in there," said John. "It'll destroy you."

The young archer’s gaze met the former military man’s. 

"I am already destroyed, nothing will change that. I just want to make sure they didn't get it wrong. And if it is really ... " He could not say the word. "II want to have the chance to see her one last time, to say goodbye."

The doctor returned fifteen minutes later, leaving the door open for Oliver and took him back to a large room. In the middle of the room on an operating table, was a body covered by a white sheet.

Oliver stepped forward slowly, trying not to fall before he reached his destination. The doctor stood on the other side of the table, and he again asked the young man if he was really sure he wanted to see the body under the sheet. 

The archer nodded, and the sheet was removed revealing Felicity's face. The vigilante swallowed a sob by seeing his friend lying there like that on this cold table, her face pale and her eyes closed. The surgeon stepped back to give him a little privacy, with trembling hands. Oliver gently caressed her hair and face. 

Then he looked at the doctor before him and asked, "is it normal that her body is still warm? Shouldn’t its temperature have already dropped?"

Oliver was searching for anything to keep his hope alive. 

"Mr. Queen, your friend died just half an hour ago, it's quite normal that her body is still warm. It takes three hours for a body to lose several degrees. I am sincerely sorry for your loss, but she is no longer here, you have to accept it."

He did not restrain himself, letting the tears flow.

"Forgive me Felicity. I wish it were me on that table. I should never have made you join my crusade, you would still be alive today," he whispered in her ear. 

"You could have continued to light the lives of the people around you, you would have been happy. I should never have come back in your life after Tommy died. I promise to track down your murderer. They will not escape.. I ... "

A sobbing escaped from his throat. "Felicity, what I said in the mansion, the three words I uttered were true and I will remember them forever.”

He looked at her trying to record her in his memory, every detail of her face so he would never forget them.

"Goodbye, my angel." 

Oliver gently laid his lips on those of the young woman for a farewell kiss, and then he pulled the sheet back over her face. He thanked the doctor from afar, and once again looked at Felicity's still body and left the room without turning around. He had lost the love of his life, and nothing could keep him here.

"I have to get out of here," he said, pushing Diggle from where he had seen him enter a few minutes earlier. He took his leather jacket, wanting to get out of the hospital as soon as possible, John and Roy followed him from afar.

"I can't believe Felicity is dead," said Roy, approaching the car. "She was so ..." He could not finish his sentence as a sob took his voice.

"Me neither," said Diggle sadly. "She was so brave, she knew how keep us in line. I have a hard time imagining our lives without this little woman."  


Oliver couldn't believe that he would never see her again. He could no longer watch her out of the corner of the eye without her noticing. He would never again see her smile when Roy made a joke. He would never again see her gaze of desire, and how her cheeks would become red when she realized that he saw her watching him while he was doing the salmon ladder or was training with Diggle. He would never again hear her voice and tone when she did not agree with him. He would never again get to listen to her babbling about a new computer that she found extraordinary or her insinuations that always put a smile on his lips.

"Why did someone shoot her? Who wanted her dead?”' He said angrily tapping on the roof of the car.

"I don't understand either," said the former military man, "we'll have the answers to our questions soon Oliver."

The young man nodded and stared at the horizon for a long time. He did not pay attention to the other two men who were talking to each other, probably remembering stories with their girl. 

A few moments later, John beckoned him to the car. Oliver relaxed his fists and opened the door, collapsing on the passenger seat. 

Oliver’s eyes looked empty as he remembered the moments spent with her in her apartment. For several weeks, when their friendship had again become what it once was , before the words spoken in the manor, they had often spent time together. Some evenings when he had decided not to patrol the streets and give their evenings to Diggle and Roy, he would leave with Felicity and go to her house and watch episodes of Dr. Who with her on her couch, a glass of wine in her hand. 

He had learned a little more about her past, even though she was like him and did not love to confide. He loved those moments, being close to her, even if it was not as he would have liked. But to be there to contemplate it, just to be with this wonderful woman who had been able to conquer his heart without wanting it. 

John and Roy got into the car too, which tore him away from his thoughts.

"I'll take you back to Verdant and then I'll go home to see Lyla."

The young man, with his eyes flushed with tears, accepted the offer from his former bodyguard without speaking. He was angry, many question invaded his mind, as he did not understand why she had been killed. His heart and his head were filled with rage and hatred against a stranger who had stolen her life. His body trembled in a way that he had not felt since the island, since Slade.

"I promise you, we'll track down and find the person who took her from us," he said emphatically .

"And we'll be with you buddy, but we'll have to be careful. Oliver, Captain Lance will conduct an investigation ," said Diggle. "He'll probably ask the vigilante for help, you must contain your rage as both Oliver Queen and the Arrow"

"Why contain my rage? To avoid him understanding that he's talking to the same person? But Felicity was loved by everyone. It's normal that Oliver Queen would be upset, she was his friend before she was his employee. As for the Arrow, he knows she was his IT girl. And he'll also probably be pretty angry himself to be honest. "

"I totally agree with you, but don't be rash trying to find answers on your own. When you're upset, you're more inclined to knock heads before you ask questions. The city is pretty much quiet, please tell me you are not going to create another revolt because of your rage"

"I will do my best to contain myself, in her honor. The most important thing is that I find who took her away from me."

His friend nodded positively and rolled out of the parking lot. He nodded in , closed his eyes and laid his head on the window of the car. In a single minute tonight, his life had been broken, again.

After dropping Oliver and Roy in front of Verdant, Dig headed his apartment where Lyla was waiting. He had called her from the hospital to warn her of the death of their friend. She had to stop the discussion quickly by explaining to him that she had to leave urgently. She said that she would see him at home later where they could talk more about it at length. 

He opened the door of his apartment, tears flowing at last on his face, he could not believe that his friend, the one he regarded as his little sister, had been killed this evening. He would never see the young woman again in the bunker, and she would not be there to celebrate the birth of his daughter.

He collapsed on the couch, his head in his hands, the pain pulling him under. He had tried to be strong in front of Oliver at the hospital. They didn't need both of them wanting to break everything, but now he could no longer hold back. Anger, rage and sadness overtook him.

Soon he felt the weight of someone next to him on the couch, and then he felt the two hands of his girlfriend slip around his neck. Lyla comforted him for several minutes, whispering to him several times that she was sorry, for the loss of Felicity. 

She was also sorry for what she had to do tonight, but there was no going back now , even if the consequences would be terrible.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver’s anger is exploding and he takes out his frustrations on the training dummies. Next he visits Felicity’s apartment, seeking a connection now that she is gone. He reminisces about happier times. In his tour of the apartment he turns up an interesting clue. What did Felicity leave for him to find ?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks my Beta LIngall

Several hours after Diggle left Oliver at the Bunker, he was still striking the dummy in front of him, the knuckles of his hands red and raw due to the brutality of his punches. 

No tears had fallen since he had arrived at the Bunker. His overwhelming anger made him want to break everything in their lair. He had started upon his arrival, the medical table had been the first to be overthrown. The table where all the test specimens were placed was the next. He had thrown a stool through the air to smash the glass cabinet where his costume was stored.

He had stopped sharply in front of Felicity's computer station, looking at the equipment, thinking about whether or not to destroy them. paused for a moment and realized that Felicity would be angry with him and would probably lecture him if he broke her babies.

But he then remembered that he would never hear one of her lectures again. Next he tried to sleep for a while, but every time he closed his eyes he saw the scene happen repeatedly in front of him. 

She never changed, Felicity would look at him, smile and then the sound of gunfire. Then the young woman lay on the cold concrete, dead again and again. He was familiar with such nightmares because of the island, his demons making an appearance again in the dark night.

He had never suffered that much with them, probably because he accepted the decisions he had to make over there. But the nightmares that haunted him this evening were different because he still did not understand what had actually happened.

Unable to bear the thought that he had lost Felicity, he decided to take out his anger on his training equipment, and hours spent hitting this one it had not diminished. Oliver kept hitting when he heard steps on the stairs. Looking up he spotted Roy with look as horrible as his own. The young archer with his red hoodie immediately noticed the hands of his mentor.

"You should stop hitting that dummy Oliver, that is if you want to be able to shoot an arrow into the one that killed Felicity."

"I'm so angry, and I feel so helpless that if I stop I could destroy everything."

"I understand Oliver, believe me. But she wouldn't want you to hurt yourself."

Roy took off his jacket and started tapping on the boxing bag, he also needed to release all his anger towards the world. Oliver stared at him, then at his hands and realized that he was right, nothing good would come if he continued to inflict this torture on his own body. 

After having bandaged his hands, Oliver climbed on his motorcycle and set off in the direction of Felicity's apartment, he needed a connection with her, even though she was no longer there. 

In fact since yesterday when he realized that she was really dead in the emergency room, he couldn't breathe. His pain was so intense, he had to touch her things, in an attempt to be being with her in some way.

He parked his motorcycle in front of her building and slowly stepped forward, taking the stairs step by step. Reaching the door, he took an intrusion kit out of his pocket and entered the young woman's apartment, avoiding notice. 

On entering her apartment, he could see that the woman had changed it forever. He remembered all the times when he had come by chance in the morning to bring Felicity her favorite beverage, or in the evening for a nightcap and watching a movie or one of the series that she loved so much. The lingering smell of the coffee that she had prepared yesterday before leaving for the lair, brought a flood of memories to his mind.

He remembered one time when they had returned to her apartment, soaking wet. Oliver had invited Felicity to a nice little restaurant that was five minutes from the young woman's apartment and they had walked up to the restaurant next to each other discussing their progress to try to recapture Queen Consolidated. On the way back to her apartment, a sudden thunderstorm had soaked them from head to toe. After that they dried off, and Oliver went to the kitchen and Felicity stood at the window watching the rain fall.

 

\------ a few months ago…. -----

"I'm going to concoct a good hot chocolate, you have everything I need to prepare it, it will warm us up."

"Thank you, if I did it myself, I probably would burn the pan," she said, continuing to look out the window.

"No worries. Afterwards I'll go to fight against the elements of Mother Nature and return to the bunker."

"All that you have to do to not be soaked again is to stay here."

"What ..." said the Archer.

"We'll sleep together," replied the young woman before she realized what she had just said. "I mean we'll sleep here together… over here. I mean you on the couch and me in my room all by myself."

"And why I won't be able sleep with you in your room too?" Oliver teased.

She began to count to three in her head before Felicity realized the words he had spoken and turned to him with her big blue eyes. She opened her mouth to talk but saw his teasing look.

"You really are impossible. But I would always prefer it if you would sleep on my couch instead of finding yourself out in this rain."

"Don't worry about me. I'll take my motorcycle to go at the lair, even if it rains," he said moving himself behind her.

Felicity could see his reflection in the window and after a moment she turned around. Their eyes found each other as they faced each other. They stopped their movements immediately. Oliver looked at her intensely, as he had the sudden urge to take the beautiful woman into his arms and kiss her. He began to move his lips towards hers. 

Felicity felt her heart beating faster, what she had always been waiting for was finally happening. But suddenly realizing what he was going to do, Oliver took a step back. 

Because of the life he led he could not afford to give in to his desire for the young woman, she would be in constant danger if she was in a romantic relationship with him. He stared at her again then left to finish their hot chocolates, thinking that he should never yield to those desires.

"Have you finished my hot chocolate? I'm starting to get cold," she said, leaving her place in front of the window to sit on the couch, sad that he had stepped back, but trying not to show it.

"Yes, I finished," he said laying the cup in her hands, avoiding touching them.

They passed the evening, until the rain ceased, talking about everything and nothing, and watching a movie together. Felicity never talked to him about what almost happened and he didn't either. They were close, they were friends, and partners, it was already a lot for him.

\------ Back to Present Day ------ 

He gently opened his eyes and felt his heart tighten with vivid pain at the memory of that moment, when he almost kissed her, when he let his feelings run free. His fingertips touched every piece of furniture, he spent several minutes looking at her collection DVDs and books in the library. He smiled at the episodes of Dr. Who, which she had made him watch incessantly. 

He had explained to her that he did not believe in the journey in other universes, or to travel in the past and the future, but she had told him that she believed that it existed, asking him to believe it for her. He had yielded only so that she would continue to look at him with her gorgeous eyes and with her smile that he loved so much.

Oliver sighed, and left the library and headed in the direction of Felicity's bedroom. He laid his hand on the door handle. He didn't want to go to her room to search its contents but he had to check. He opened the door, stepped slowly, scrutinizing the slightest nook. His gaze fell upon her bed where he knew that she would never sleep again, on the computer magazines that she could no longer read . 

He knew that it was crazy but he continued to hope from the bottom of his heart that it was somehow a mistake and that he would someday be able to take her in his arms again.

He breathed in the scent of vanilla that she wore every morning and that he could smell whenever she was close by. He sat down on her bed and took one of the pillows in his hands. Oliver brought it up his face to smell her scent that permeated the pillowcase. 

While keeping it in his hands, he got up and walked over to the chair that stood near her desk filled with computer parts among other things. Next he picked up one of her dresses that she had left out. He inhaled Felicity's natural scent. He calmed feeling her delicate scent that hung on the fibers of the garment, he folded it and laid it back on the chair.

He then walked over to the little bedside table, the pillow still in his hand. Unable to resist, he began to delicately touch the earrings hanging from a jewelry organizer , and then picked up one of the pink lipsticks that she often wore, putting it in his pocket, wanting to feel a more personal connection with her in any way. 

Oliver saw a framed selfie picture of the two of them, she loved playing with her phone. By the time he slid his finger on his face through the glass of the photo frame he felt a shudder traverse his body. He put it back in his place and continued his inspection, he then opened the drawer and saw an envelope marked "for my boys".

Opening the envelope he saw a flash drive, he wondered what she had put on it that was so important that she hid it in her nightstand. He closed the drawer keeping the envelope with him, and looked once again at the room before he left. Before climbing on his motorcycle, he sent a text message to Diggle asking him to come to the lair quickly and asked Roy to stay because he had something to show them.

Quite quickly, he arrived at Verdant and went down the stairs where he found John and Roy in front of the computer station waiting for his arrival. 

"What did you find Oliver?" asked the former soldier.

"I found an envelope with our names on it with a USB stick inside. She probably had found something and saved it on the drive to show us later or else it's evidence she kept for the police." He was confident this was a clue about who had taken her away from him.

"Knowing Felicity she probably wanted to do some research before she bothered us with her problem. Sadly she had no idea she was going to die," said Diggle said.

Oliver stepped towards the computer and inserted the USB stick, but instead of finding files there was only one folder marked video. He clicked on the file and a video appeared with Felicity's face on the screen. With a trembling hand, filled with emotion to see her face again, he clicked on the file and the video began to play. The three boys remained hypnotized by the sound of her voice.

"Hi Boys,

If you are watching this video it means that what I had foreseen, something terrible, has happened to me, like dying. I want you to know that this is not something that I wished for, but if you are all three in front of the computer watching this I must not have managed to get myself out of my own problems. I know that for some time you have been worried about me and it hurts me not that I was not able to tell you anything. 

I appreciate your concern but I have to settle this by myself. Of course since you know me very well, you know that you will have no explanation, I do not want you to meddle in this or risk your life because of me. And if I'm dead, don't look for the culprit, let the police investigate. 

Oliver, promise me you won't do anything, your secret must stay safe, you don't have to show that Arrow is interested in my murder. Help Captain Lance as Oliver Queen if you want but that's it. Starling City must have its vigilante on duty instead of being absent in search of my murderer. 

Now, I just have a few words to say to each of you. 

So I'm going to start with you Roy, not that you're the least important, but just because I don't know you as well as the other two.

You came to our team to help the man who showed you that there more to life than delinquency. You have shown yourself to exceptionally good in the way you fight at his side and I know that Oliver is proud of you, even if he doesn't say it, and so am I. 

I know you blame yourself for killing that cop because of the mirakuru, but it wasn't you at that time. You are a hero and the man with the mirakuru was a pawn in Slade's game and you were better than him because you came out of that experience even stronger, you have not become a monster like him, this shows the kind of man you are, a good man.

I know you've been unhappy for several months, because the woman you love left without giving you a valid reason. Don't look at me like that, I saw the letter, I didn't spy on you, just it fell out of your pocket, sorry I read it. I did some research, because that's what I know how to do, and I found her, she's in Corto Maltese. You do what you want, but I know from my limited experience that when a person feels the same way you do, you mustn't let her go, never, or you'll regret it. Be happy Arsenal, with or without Thea.”

Roy stepped back from the computer and wiped the tears that had trickled down his face. Even after her death, this woman that he had only known for a short period of time helped him reunite with Thea.

"Now to Diggle, my big Brother. You were a rock on which I was able to support myself after the earthquake. You were able to reassure me and watch over me when I was having nightmares, at the risk of destroying your relationship with Carly. You've always listened to me in the weeks following Slade's attack without judging me, just consoling me, again, trying to fix my heart that had been broken again. 

Knowing you is one of the most beautiful things that ever happened to me in my life. I am sad to have disappointed you when you learned that I did not entrust you with my worries, because I know that you and Oliver would have done anything to help me. But I can't get you involved, you're way too important to me, and you have a life outside of our vigilante business. 

Especially you, you're going to be the best dad in the world to your little wonder she'll be the luckiest girl on Earth to have you as a father. I just hope I can see it, if that's not the case I'm sorry in advance. Stay as you are my big brother, honest, courageous, loving, and above all forgive."

Felicity wiped the tears that had fallen upon face and prepared for her last speech. 

Diggle stepped aside trying to understand her last sentence, and to give some privacy for Oliver to hear Felicity’s message to him. 

"Oliver, looking back at our first meeting, I still thank the fates for putting you in my life, for bringing you into my office that day with your computer with bullet holes. I did not understand at that moment, but after you unveiled your secret, when you trusted me enough to get into my car by asking for help, you changed my life, and everything I thought of the world. 

You also helped me to become the woman I am now, stronger, more courageous and also more realistic about life. After Walter was found, I could have left as I had said, but I was already addicted to the adrenaline, justice and the good that we were doing; John, you and me.

After you returned from Lian Yu, I looked at you differently. I continued our crusade but with more in my heart ... for you. I shouldn't tell you this, but I’ll do it anyway, I have very strong feelings for you, which I know will never be returned. I am well aware of it. Of course I would never have been able to look you in the eye and say that, your beautiful eyes troubled me as soon as our eyes met , and I didn't want to destroy our friendship. 

I know you'll always see me as a partner and a friend, and I respect it because our friendship is very valuable to me. I suffered watching you with Isabel and Sarah, but I'd rather be by your side as a friend, than not be by your side at all. We are so different that I did not even think that we could ever arrive at this point. So I'm already happy to be in your life.

I feel an invisible link that binds us. I don't know what it is, but sometimes I feel like I'm connected to you. I'm guessing on your side, you've never felt that connection, and I don't blame you, you don't feel the same way about me. I know you believe that because of the life you lead you do not have the right to happiness, but that’s not true Oliver, you have suffered enough in your life. You have to open your heart as you did with me and let someone in. 

Maybe you could try again with Laurel, now that she knows your secret there's not a barrier between the two of you, and you both have changed. You are no longer a playboy and she will give you time to go at your own pace. I want you to be happy even if it is not with me, you are an extraordinary man Oliver and the woman who will be with you will have the unique opportunity to receive your love. I can't believe I'm saying all this, but I need you to know, I need to tell you.

Felicity must have heard a sound behind her so she stopped recording. The video ended on those last words. Oliver stood in front of the computer screen, waiting for something else to happen, his eyes fixed on the screen. He could almost feel her presence near him right now. Was it the same connection that she felt between them? He didn't know. 

Diggle approached him, touching his shoulder "How are you Oliver?"

"She wants me to get back together with Laurel, but it's her that I want to return to. How am I going to be able to live without her now, knowing that she had those feelings for me? Why didn't I notice? "

"You were too caught up in the vigilante business, you didn't pay attention to her change of attitude towards you," replied John, "Why do you think she left us this message?"

"Do you think she knew she was going to die?", asked Roy.

The vigilante turned to his two friends. "Do you think someone threatened her John? Was that her problem?" he said angrily.

"What I am sure about is that someone had to have been stalking her, or blackmailing her, and she knew that it could end badly… her video was a goodbye Oliver. She knew that she might die but didn't know when that would happen.”

"But why the hell didn't she tell us about it, we could have helped her, find that who wanted to hurt her!" yelled the archer.

"To protect us," murmured Roy. "She did this to protect our identities, our secrets, that's what she was trying to say by asking you not to look for the culprit as the Arrow, Oliver."

"That's not true." 

He flung the chair across the room. 

"I told you it was because of me John."

"Not just because of you, Oliver, because of the three of us, otherwise the message would only have been meant for your attention, but she sent one for each of us." She wanted to protect us, someone had to be blackmailing her.

Silence filled the room as the three men realized that Felicity had sacrificed herself for them, for their freedom. But deep down Oliver felt that there was something else going on and he intended to get to the bottom of it.

But not right now. Right now he wanted to be alone to watch Felicity's video again, feel close to her again . He asked his friends to head home, saying that they would start their research tomorrow. Diggle and Roy said their goodbyes and left the bunker, leaving the archer alone.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver and Felicity’s dream connection continues, and they both struggle to deal with the aftermath of the attack - apart from each other. We learn more about Felicity’s problem and the threat against Team Arrow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for giving a chance to this story, I know that some who had read the old version do not want to come back but I assure you that my Beta does an amazing job in correcting my English translation. Thanks to those who left a comment.
> 
> I will let you discover this new chapter.
> 
> Thank my beta LIngall

Down in the bunker Oliver watched the video again and again. He was trying to dissect every sentence that Felicity said, but she had left no clue. She knew she was in danger and yet had told them nothing, she had protected them from an unknown criminal. He listened as she explained her feelings for him, but why did she ask him to move on to live and love another woman. 

His throat became dry by listening to her tell him to start a relationship with Laurel, he could feel a lump forming inside of it. He felt his heart-breaking more with every breath. Warm, salty tears flooded down his cheeks. He pressed pause and the screen froze on the young woman's face. Oliver caressed her face on the computer screen.

Having lost Felicity made him understand that the feelings which he felt for her were really strong, much stronger than he could have imagined. But now it was too late. He would never know what kind of life he could have had with her. 

The woman of his life. His great love. 

Exhausted, he went to lie on his bed, hoping there would be no nightmares. He pulled the lipstick out of his pocket and pressed it very hard in his hand, he wanted to be able to feel her near him, holding this object that she had used so often.

He was awakened a few hours later by the noise of heels clicking across the floor. He got up quickly and ran to the stairs toward the familiar sound. 

"Felicity?"

The young woman appeared before him as beautiful as ever. "I am sorry Oliver, having to make you think I was dead. But I couldn't do otherwise. Forgive me."

The archer took her in his arms, pressing his face into her neck, inhaling her vanilla scent, glad to have found her. 

"Oh my God, you're alive, the hospital got it wrong, I knew it."

"I'm sorry Oliver, really sorry" she cried into his neck.

The vigilante felt her tears flowing. He tightened his grip and pulled her firmly against him. 

"Why did you make me believe you were dead Felicity? Being without you is unthinkable."

He felt Felicity slipping away from him again. She put her hands on his cheeks and held his face. 

"There was no choice to make, I had to simulate my death so nothing would happen to you. That's all that mattered to me."

"Whoever wanted to hurt you we'll catch him together and I'll put him an arrow in his heart for taking you away from me. We're a team, with John and Roy, we are going to make him pay for attacking us.”

"Don't do anything stupid, Oliver, don't look for the killer. Don't risk your life for me."

"I'll do anything for you, Felicity, don’t you understand, everything."

She began to withdraw from his arms, but the archer grabbed her by the waist, pulled her to his body and laid his lips on hers. Oliver kissed Felicity slowly and deeply, his tongue slipping on hers. For the first time he savored the taste of her lips. After a moment, Felicity gently pushed away from the vigilante, tears flooding her cheeks again.

"I'm sorry Oliver, I have to leave," as she dropped her hands and walked back to the staircase.

"No Felicity. We're going to settle this case together, you mustn't leave," he said, running after her.

"I'm sorry to hurt you. I didn't know that you ..."

"I beg you Felicity. “ Don't leave me yet. I love you, you hear me I love you.” 

He tugged her against his torso, "I can not live without you, I am sorry for not having understood it before."

"Oliver, I can not stay, I love you too and I want you to know that this was the only way I had to protect you. Now you have to move on without me and keep saving your city. You always be my hero."

He felt her body disappear from his arms until he only felt air around him 

"I beg you, come back," he howled in the emptiness of the bunker.

The vigilante awoke with a start looking everywhere for Felicity, still smelling her presence in the bunker. His eyes turned back to the screen where the young woman's face was still displayed.

"I really felt it was real, that you were here with me," as he put his hand on his heart "It's crazy I know, but you were in this room with me.” He could still feel her magnificent body trembling in his arms and feel the tears damp on his neck. He touched his lips. He could still feel the presence of her lips on his like a moment ago.

"Why did you have to fake your death? Is anyone helping you? I'll find the answers to my questions. I'm not going to let up until I know where you are. I know deep in my heart that you are not dead " he said while looking at the face of the young woman on the screen.

He took out his phone and dialed of Star Labs. Felicity had told him about a man as smart as she, who was working there and who was watching Barry who was still in a coma. He needed this person to rummage through Felicity's computer. Oliver was sure she had hidden information in those files. He knew that those files would be too hard to find for someone like him, without very great computer knowledge. But probably not for Cisco Ramon.

In the hospital parking lot, in her car, Lyla set up the satellite phone, and dialed a number waiting for an answer. After a few moments a man answered.

"Hello, Lyla"

"Hello, Billy. How is everything going there?"

"Rather difficult, but I’m doing everything to alleviate the situation. How's your husband and friends?"

"They are not doing well at all, they are depressed by the news, especially Oliver, I didn't think he'd take her death so badly. I'm sad that he’s suffering so much, but I had no choice. I know that the consequences of my actions are going to be hard for my marriage too.”

"We will do everything so that it doesn’t last too long, and your companion will understand that you had no choice Lyla."

"Thank you for the update, but John can’t stand the lies, he will feel betrayed."

"Surely at first, but he’ll forgive you."

" I hope so Billy, really. I'll call you later. Be careful.”

"No problem, I’ll watch over your friend and you find the bastard who put her in this situation."

They hung up at the same time, the man looked at the little house where he was. There was a bedroom, a living room, a kitchenette and a bathroom. The house was also equipped with a television and a DVD player, a collection of films. The shelves were filled with books and magazines, as well as card games, crosswords and puzzles.

He approached the window and peered out. There was nothing in sight. No one would know they were here. There was no technology, no WiFi network. Everything was done to ensure that the occupants were safe. He turned toward the noises coming from the bedroom door. He looked at the person who was coming out. Her eyes were red from crying too much and there was a look of sadness on her face.

"The phone woke you up?"

"No, I had a dream that seemed me so real that I don't know what to think about it."

"I am sincerely sorry for what you have gone through and I know that you are immensely suffering."

"I keep rethinking at that moment. It keeps coming back in my head and every time I'm even sadder."

"Everything will work out, you'll see."

"I'm not sure, I've never felt so bad. I should never have accepted Lyla’s proposal"

He approached softly, and took her hand, gave her a slight smile and replied, "I promise you that we will do everything so that you can leave here and get back to your life as soon as possible."

After leaving Oliver alone in the bunker, Diggle returned home. On arriving he went to take a shower and lay down on his bed for a while. He was thinking about what Felicity had told him on the video. She thanked him for helping her get out of the bunker after the quake, the security that she would not have a wall or a ceiling falling on her. Then after Oliver returned, he knew that she suffered since he did not return her feelings. 

One evening, after the Moira Queen campaign, he had come to see her knowing that she was not well, he had found her weeping with all her breath. She had told him that an hour ago she had just seen Oliver and Sarah in the bunker having sex. She told him that she did not understand what was wrong with her, still wondering why Oliver did not want her.

By the time the archer had rekindled his relationship with Sarah Lance he had seen Felicity grow sad trying not to show her pain, even becoming friendly with the Canary and saving her from a bullet shot by The Clock King Tockman.

But always with the same strength and courage, she would return the next day without letting on that anything was wrong. She was so much stronger than him emotionally. She had showed it again this time by taking care of a stalker alone and not involving them with her problems.

Felicity did not feel that she had the a place in the team, at the time of the Tockman affair. She even considered leaving the team. Sarah,knew how to fight, use computers and analyze a blood samples.

She had already told Diggle that she did not know how to fight like them so she was serving the team in her own way. 

John had simply replied, ' You are the heart of the team, you are holding us together, without you we are nothing '. And she had smiled at him and had resumed her work, always with the same courage and determination to catch the wicked criminals.

Tomorrow, along with Roy and Oliver he had to do some research on his computer. Felicity probably left files, but they were probably well hidden. She had a much higher level of intelligence with computers than the rest of the team, but he had to do everything he could to find any clue to catch the one that had killed her. 

John was taken out of his thoughts by the sound of the keys in the lock. He stood up and joined his companion, Lyla in the lounge.

"Are you all right, Johnny," she asked when she saw his head. She stepped forward to give him a kiss.

"Not really. Oliver found a USB stick in Felicity's apartment with a video recording.”

"Why was he at her apartment?" 

Felicity had told her that they were only friends, even though she had seen gestures and glances that did not deceive her that Oliver had feelings for her as well. 

"To be closer to her. I think he has just realised that he's been madly in love with her for a long time, and he's angry that he's always pushed her away."

"I didn't know he loved her as much as that, you never told me. Did she know about his feelings?

"No, she always thought he'd never see her other than as a partner. But in fact Oliver always loved her. I understood him when he killed Count Vertigo, but he was afraid that with the life that we lead she would be in danger if someone knew about his feelings towards her, then he pushed her away. "

"What did Felicity put on the USB stick?" asked Lyla casually afraid that Felicity had told the whole truth to her partners to find the culprit themselves.

"A video explaining to us what we meant to her. I'm sure somehow she knew she was going to die. The words she told us ... she said goodbye to each of us Lyla, it was so clear ." 

John went to sit on the couch. "We need to find out who killed her. Oliver must first succeed in dealing his pain and then we will try to catch the one who took her away from us."

"You shouldn't meddle in this case, Johnny. It's too dangerous. What about Oliver's secret?"

"You think we're going to stay here and do nothing, Lyla. She was our friend, she was so much more. She was like my little sister. She was Oliver's love. She changed us all, thanks to her, we are better people, even Roy. We can't let his murderer get away with it."

"I understand that you’ve all suffered from her death, but let the police solve her murder, it's better not to risk unveiling your night work. You must protect your secrets."

"That's exactly what Felicity said to Oliver in the video. That he should not meddle in the investigation," said Diggle by looking at his companion. "Do you know something Lyla? Is Argus responsible for what happened to Felicity? Was our friend undercover for Waller? Did Felicity die because of her?"

"Of course not, Johnny. Why would Waller want Felicity to work for her, in addition her going undercover, it makes no sense. Her death has nothing to do with the Argus,” she said, moving away from him.

Lyla had to change the subject, especially to make sure Oliver stayed away from this case. 

"I'm just saying that Oliver has always done everything for the past several years to hide his double identity. He shouldn’t throw himself headlong into a vendetta and risk being unmasked."

"You have to understand that he would have done anything for Felicity before this happened Lyla. And now even more so, since he’s realized his feelings. He has the impression, and so do I, that there is more behind the story than it seems. We think that Felicity sacrificed herself for the three of us, that her murderer was blackmailing her. We will do everything to find her murderer and avenge her death, at the peril of our secrets. For it is because of our secrets that she decided not to tell us and was trying to solve her problems alone... And now she is dead."

He stood up and went in the direction of his room and slammed the door shut.

"We must settle this matter as soon as possible before all of this was done for nothing and their secrets are unmasked by this madman," she said quietly to herself.

_Flashback..._

_In the Glades, in front of Verdant, a man sat in a car looking at the alley that ran alongside the nightclub. He knew this was the vigilante’s base of operations. He had tried to penetrate, but the door and its code had thwarted him._

_He had known Felicity several years ago in Las Vegas when she was sixteen years old. They were in the same class and had fallen in love at first sight, with her beauty and her intelligence. She had been his first love, his only love. He had managed to approach her with finesse at the library, asking her to kindly help him with a project. He knew he had to be patient with her, and to go easy. Little by little they had gotten to know one another and then began to go out together. He really believed that what they had was real for both of them._

_But one evening, during one of their revisions, she explained to him that she was leaving for MIT because she received her scholarship six months early. She told him that she had much appreciated the moments they had spent together but that she felt nothing for him, an attraction for is sure, but not love. She had apologized for perhaps having made him believe it was a serious relationship, but nothing was more important than her studies. She left him there with his broken heart._

_The next day he had come running in front of her house, to convince her to stay with him, but one of her mother's neighbors had told him that she had left earlier that morning. He had asked if she knew what city, but she had no idea. This put him in a mad rage and he promised to find her and make her pay for having fun with him. He finished his studies in finance, and had visited several cities during his holidays in an attempt to find her without any success._

_A year ago he had arrived in Starling City and had been hired at Queen Consolidated in their financial department. One evening as he headed home later than he had planned, he had seen her in the parking lot smiling and beautiful standing very close to a man. She had dyed her hair blond and he found her even more beautiful than before. He had wanted to approach her and make himself known. He recognized the other man as Oliver Queen who was taking her hand before they left together on his motorcycle._

_At that moment he was intensely jealous of his boss who had taken the woman of his life that he had finally found after so many years._

_For several weeks he had watched his boss, to show his beautiful Felicity that he was not a man for her, that he was a playboy who had multiple feminine conquests. But instead of seeing him with various different women, he realized that every night he was heading to a nightclub called Verdant._

_One night he decided to follow him from afar and saw him enter to a side door, he continued his observation for a few hours, but just at the time he was going to leave, who did he see come out through the same door, to his surprise, the Starling City vigilante._

_Although he was not as smart as Felicity, he immediately understood that his boss Oliver Queen was the Arrow. Over the next few days he took several pictures where he also realized that Felicity was aware of the secret of her boyfriend. He also saw other faces, like the bodyguard of Oliver Queen and a young man dressed with a red hoodie, go in and out of that door every night._

_He was ready to expose the Vigilante to the police, so that he would stay away from the woman he loved, when madmen with orange and black masks terrorized the city. He had to wait a few months after the attack for calm to be restored in the city, and having been wounded, He started following Felicity, blaming her for making fun of him several years ago._

_Next he sent her an anonymous letter to her office with photos involving the secret of his boss and his acolytes, threatening to reveal everything to the general public and to the police. He threatened her to say nothing to Queen at the risk of retaliation. He had not identified himself, but Felicity believed that a crazy man wanted her dead._

_He had only one desire since seeing her again, to get her back, keep her for himself and make his life with her. She was so gorgeous, so sexy, even more beautiful than he remembered. But he knew that his task would be difficult due to his boss whom he hated very much. He had to be smart and patient to take her away from Oliver Queen._

_…… end of flashback ___

__But unfortunately Felicity was dead before he could have exact his vengeance. He did not know how it happened, the newspapers were not talking about the case. All he wanted now was to kill the man who had ruined his happiness with her, who had taken his place in his heart. And what was the best way? By getting closer to his enemy through the investigation._ _

__Felicity was still in the hidden house in the forest, without technology to hear news of Oliver, John and Roy, or to connect to the computers and the cameras of the bunker. This place had at one time been used by Argus, no one knew of it except Lyla, she assured her that Waller believed that the stash had been destroyed. The agency would not come looking for it here, nor the person who threatened it._ _

__Lyla introduced Felicity to her friend Billy Malone, a police detective from Coast City, who was the son of one of his comrades in arms of the army who had unfortunately died a few years ago in Afghanistan. He was there to keep her safe while Lyla was looking for her stalker._ _

__The dream that she had about Oliver was so real. He confessed that he loved her and he kissed her, she felt terrible to have concealed her problems. She wanted to leave this prison and go to join them and throw herself in the arms of the vigilante. She was interrupted in her thoughts by the noise of the door opening._ _

__"Felicity, will you join me for dinner?"_ _

__"I'm not really hungry."_ _

__"I know it's hard for you, but you have to eat."_ _

__“I'm tired of being locked up here, maybe I should have told Oliver and John what was happening to me, told them about the damn threatening letter," she says angrily._ _

__"And you'd probably be really dead and so would they."_ _

__"But Oliver, John and Roy are in danger. I know they can defend themselves, but if anything happens to them... I won’t be able to forgive myself."_ _

__"I know you're worried about them, Felicity, but it's better right now that they don't know anything, that they're in the dark."_ _

__"It's easy for you to say, they're not important to you. They are my friends."_ _

__"I know, believe me, but if they don't know what really happened to you, if they still believe you're dead, they're safe. Your stalker won't hurt them."_ _

__"It's not safe, he may want to kill them to get revenge for my death, we don't know."_ _

__"I understand that it's hard for you to lie to them, it feels like a betrayal, but everything will work out when Lyla locks up this sick man. What's important to me is that nothing happens to you."_ _

__"And what's important to me is that I don't lose them, I won't survive," she says crying, "If Oliver dies because of me I..." She doesn't finish her sentence throwing herself in his arms for to cry._ _

__He consoled her as best he could by gently stroking her hair as he pulled her a little tighter in his arms, whispering words to calm her, assuring her that nothing would happen to her friends._ _

__Did this Oliver know how lucky he was to be loved by a woman like Felicity? He knew how he would feel to be loved by her. This woman in his arms was so beautiful, brave, intelligent; everything he was looking for in a woman._ _


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver reaches out to Star Labs’ Cisco Ramon for help, and he turns up a promising lead - Cooper Seldon. The connection between Oliver and Felicity continues to strengthen - maybe they are two kindred souls - soulmates.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the comments and interest you are wearing to this story. I thank my Beta LIngall, without her help I would not have been able to post my story because she helps me immensely with the translation.

Cisco Ramon was a mechanical engineer and a member of the scientific team at Star Labs in Central City. With his friend Dr. Caitlin Snow and the great Harrison Wells, he had watched over Barry since his accident with lightning in his lab. Later he had come to help Team Arrow team investigate the theft of the industrial centrifuge. 

Cisco had only briefly met Oliver Queen after the encounter with Slade Wilson so he was very surprised by his call two days ago asking for his help with an urgent matter. Oliver had not given him any explanation. When his taxi pulled up in front of a nightclub called Verdant he wondered if the CEO of Queen Consolidated had lost his mind. He was barely out of the car when Oliver arrived on the scene. 

"Hello, Mr. Ramon, thank you very much for agreeing to come and help us. How's Barry? "

"He's still in a coma," he said to him, looking around. "Excuse me for asking you this, Mr. Queen but why are we here?"

"The hardware I need you to analyze is here."

"Why isn't Felicity analyzing it? She works for you and she's probably as good as I am in computer science.”

"Because my problem concerns Felicity. Please follow me, Mr. Ramon."

"Show me the way and called me Cisco, I’m not that old."

The two men headed to the side metal door and the archer tapped the code. The door opened and he allowed the young genius to pass in front of him. 

As they went down the stairs Oliver could hear the wheels turning in Cisco’s brain. 

"You're the Starling City vigilante," said Cisco. "It makes so much sense now, you come back from the dead after five years and shortly afterward the Arrow arrives. I can’t wait to tell Caitlin, she’s going to freak out."

"You must keep my secret Cisco, you can’t tell your friends."

"I won't say anything, I promise you. Felicity works for you too?"

"She is our technical guru, without her we are nothing." 

Oliver approached the two men in the room who had watched as he entered with Cisco, "here's John Diggle and Roy Harper who help me save the city."

"Nice to meet you. Where is Felicity?"

"That's why I asked you to come, she's missing."

"She's not missing Oliver and you know it," said Diggle still not understanding why the young man continued to hide from the truth. "She left us !! She's dead!"

"Wait ! What!" yelled Cisco.

"She didn’t die John," said Oliver angrily, "I saw her, she was just with me."

"Can someone explain this to me?" asked the genius. "And how do you know that Felicity died anyway?" as he turned to the former military man..

"She took two bullets in her body right in front of us, and we were at the hospital when the doctor told us she died. Oliver even saw her body on the operating table,” explained Roy.

"But Oliver dreamed of her two days ago, now he believes that she is still alive," replied Diggle.

"Felicity can't be dead, it's not possible," said Cisco running his hands in his hair. He looked at the three men in front of him. "In relation to a sensation of reality in a dream it's quite possible. In some Greek legends, two kindred souls can be connected in their dreams through a kind of link that they share with each other," added Cisco. "I think that Oliver is in love with Felicity and she with him."

"She's everything to me. I know she's not dead. I feel it deep inside me. I don't know where she is or what her stalker did to her, but I won’t stop looking for her. Cisco, I need you to look at his computer, dig in places where she could have hidden information, files or anything that could get us on track."

"Okay I'll do everything I can to help you find what happened to her," says the young man. "I didn't know her as well as you did but she was very nice to me and Caitlin when she came to visit Barry. I really hope she's not dead."

"Thanks, I'll show you her computers," said Oliver moving to point Cisco to the Felicity’s computers that she called her ‘babies’.

"I sincerely hope that he'll find something that will show that she is alive because I don’t think that Oliver will survive otherwise," said John to Roy.

********************************

Billy Malone watched the blond young woman sleeping in the only bedroom of the house. She moved again in her sleep, she was having a lot of nightmares. He began to move his hand towards her hair to calm her, but he resisted. She did not belong to him, he was just there to protect her, she was in love with another man and that thought made him very sad. He closed his eyes for a moment and remembered the first time he had seen her with Lyla Michaels.

_The latter with been in the same unit as his father, he had never met her but his father had told him much about her bravery in combat and her determination in her work. At every video call, his father spoke with his mother about his comrades of arms that held in great esteem, especially Lyla and John Diggle. When his father died, he received a call from her, she listened to him and told him stories of his father in the army, with his commander, it had done him good._

_Since then they called from time to time, and she had promised to always watch over him. He was surprised when she asked for help on one of her government cases. But as it turned out it was a personal mission, she told him to tell no one. Very intrigued, he had gone to Starling City where she told him to meet up with her at a small coffee shop._

_He did not expect her to have company and his heart stopped beating when the young woman sitting next to Lyla looked up at him. He had seen an angel, she was simply beautiful, long blond hair with a ponytail, and ocean blue eyes framed with black rimmed glasses. She simply took his breath away._

_"Billy, I present to you Felicity Smoak. The personal case I mentioned concerns her."_

_"Hello, Miss Smoak. I'm detective Billy Malone from Coast City," he said locking onto her eyes._

_"Hello Detective," she said as she smiled at him._

_Even her smile was perfect. He could not see the rest of her body since it was hidden by the table where they sat, but he was sure that her whole body was sublime. He worked to regain his composure and took a seat at the table with the two women._

_"What I'm about to show you, Billy, you mustn't tell anyone. I trust you just like your father, don't disappoint me. Felicity did not want me to involve you, or anyone in this matter but I have no choice. Especially since I am doing this for her without my superiors’ knowledge. Felicity is very important to my ex-husband with whom she works, I couldn't let her down."_

_"I understand Lyla, and you can trust me, And you too, Miss Smoak."_

_"It’s Felicity, please call me Felicity, and I'm sorry to have to involve you with my problems."_

_"It doesn't bother me at all to help you, and please, call me Billy," he said with a big smile that she had brought to his face._

_He his stomach was full of butterflies. He did not understand how a woman he had just met five minutes ago, with just her eyes and her smile, could have this much of an effect on him._

_He took the letter that Lyla handed to him and began to read it. Browsing the letter brought up many feelings. Hatred for the person who could threaten her in this way, but also jealousy for the man whom the stalker spoke of in the letter._

_"Who are the men your stalker is talking about?"_

_Felicity looked at her friend at her side, daring not to talk too much. There was no name in the letter, just descriptions and the fact that he was talking about the Starling vigilante._

_"I doubt that the vigilante whom he speaks about wants to be named,” he whispers, "and it is none of my business what he does in his city. Lyla asked me to help you Felicity and that's what I’ll do, but I still have to know who he's talking about.”_

_"It's not my secret, I'm sorry Billy but I won't give you a name," she said in a certain tone, which gave her even more charm in his eyes._

_"I'll just tell you their first names," says Lyla. "That's all you’ll need to know. Oliver, John and Roy."_

_"Do you know why this person is angry with you or your friends?"_

_"No I don't know why he's trying to hurt me. I've always paid attention to the people around me, even the people I've known in my past have never wanted to hurt me."_

_"If I call you Billy, I’ll need for you to help protect Felicity after I launch my plan. I just need one more day to finalize it. This is going to be complicated and unbearable for many people. I have to make sure that everything runs smoothly after the chaos that we will create."_

_Lyla looked at the young woman at her side who had lowered her eyes, "I’ve only shown you the letter so that you know the magnitude of the situation, but your mission will be to take Felicity away with you and do everything to make sure that nothing happens to her until I find this sick stalker."_

_"Okay, no worries. I'm going to get a hotel in town and wait for you to contact me when I have to take Felicity."_

_They all rose from their seats and Billy shook each of their hands. He felt a shock as he shook Felicity’s hand. Billy knew it was completely insane to think it, but he realized that he had just met the perfect woman whom he had been looking for all his life. ___

__Billy always watched Felicity sleep. He longed to touch her, to pamper her. He found her so beautiful. He did not know as it was possible, as he was not a believer in love at first sight. But he had fallen in love with young woman after their brief meeting in the coffee shop. He swore to do everything to protect her even at the peril of his own life._ _

__****************************_ _

__Cisco was able to easily search through Felicity's computer since she was very neat and organized in her night work. Files were classified by month, and included the names of the criminals they had sent to Iron Heights since the beginning of their mission to clean up their city. There were also notes explaining the crimes committed. After checking that there was nothing hidden inside those files, he put them aside because it was related to Team Arrow, he liked to call it that in his head._ _

__Then another file included all the injuries suffered by Oliver and John. He noticed that Felicity had cataloged all the medical equipment used and ordered, as well as the training dummies that had often been changed._ _

__He was drawn to a file that was blocked by a passcode, which he solved easily. Inside was the detailed identification of a man named Cooper Seldon. Reading her comments, he learned that she had attended MIT with him, and that he had been arrested by the FBI for breaking into the Department of Education's website to erase student loans. He confessed to creating the virus that had been used to do it, but before the trial he had committed suicide._ _

__Cisco clicked on his photo and found more information, very astute he thought, she had managed to discover that in reality he was not dead, but that he had made a trip that month to Starling City, renting a small apartment._ _

__She had marked it, ‘Could it be him?’ next to an address. He printed the photo, wrote the address on the back and brought it to Oliver and his partners explaining that this Cooper Seldon might be Felicity’s stalker._ _

__In just a few minutes the vigilante donned his arrow suit and grabbed his bow and arrows and headed for the address that Cisco had provided. He was unhinged with the thought that this man was holding his girl._ _

__He had hidden himself as best as he could so as not to be noticed. During a break in the police patrol, he had managed to get into the building. Sneaking quietly, he entered the apartment and was able to see the man he was looking for, lying on the ground in a pool of blood. It appeared that he had been beaten to death, and also shot in both his body and once in the head. Oliver was filled with rage. He left as fast as he had come and hid in the darkness that the other buildings provided._ _

__He called Captain Lance who was on the scene and learned that Seldon had been working for the NSA, but being very greedy, he had gotten mixed up with the wrong people in order to steal funds from the treasury. His plan backfired when he failed to change the truck's route to his crime partners location and he did not have time to flee they killed him before._ _

__When the Arrow asked him if this man could be involved in her death, the captain explained that it was not possible for Seldon to be responsible for Felicity's death as the vigilante thought, for the man had only arrived in Starling City yesterday morning, and the young woman had already been dead for three days._ _

__Captain Lance assured him that he was taking care of the investigation personally. The vigilante asked him why he had not yet questioned Oliver Queen since she had worked for him the captain replied that he had enough witnesses who were on the street and had witnessed her murder. He did not need Oliver Queen's statement._ _

__The Arrow thanked him, mounted his motorbike which was behind a building and rode back to the lair with as many questions as before. Oliver landed back at the bunker few hours later , anger on his face. He explained to the others that when he had arrived at the address, the place was already filled with cops._ _

__After the vigilante returned to the lair, Cisco continued to delve into the depths of Felicity's computer but found nothing new. He had managed to decode several files, but found nothing to connected to her murder or stalker. Oliver was frustrated, angry that finding Seldon was a dead end. He could see that John was watching him from the corner of his eye. John probably expected him to crack completely, suspecting that he was a moment away from breaking everything in the bunker._ _

__"Oliver, you should go for a ride, you’re making us all crazy. You're pacing like a caged lion."_ _

__"I don't want to leave in case he finds something else. I have to be ready to intervene to find her and save her."_ _

__"Nothing good will happen if you explode before he finds something. And if the bond of kindred souls, which this young genius spoke of to us, actually exists," he said, pointing to the man in front of the computers, "then you should leave and rest. Perhaps to dream of our girl. You could have a connection," he replied. Diggle, would do anything to make him leave, even if it meant believing in this connected soulmate dream story._ _

__The Arrow agreed, reluctantly. He packed a small bag of clothes since he could not sleep in the bunker, there were too many people. He then picked up his jacket and helmet and went out of the foundry. Oliver returned to Felicity’s apartment wanting to get himself closer to her again._ _

__He laid his bag in her room and hugged her pillow again to try to feel her presence. The vigilante grabbed some clothes from his bag and went into the young woman's bathroom to change._ _

__He decided to take a shower. As he let the hot water pound his body, he closed his eyes and let go of his thoughts and emotions that were boiling inside him._ _

__Oliver felt a huge hole where his heart used to be. He laid a hand on his chest, where his heart was, and felt faint beats that reverberated in his torso. Everything in his whole environment had been slowing down since Felicity had disappeared. It was if the world had stopped turning since her death. It was probably stupid to think that, but it was what he felt in the depths of his being. He had never felt so lost, even at the death of his father, his mother, or Shado._ _

__Felicity had made him the man he was today, a hero, no longer a murderer. She had taught him to control his anger in the face of criminals and especially to find another way to honor his promise to his best friend Tommy to no longer kill. She was a light in the darkness where he had lived for so many years. Oliver didn’t how to keep from being swallowed up by the shadows that called him since the young woman's disappearance without her light._ _

__He was so eager to find her and explain that she had been completely wrong about what she had said in her video. He had explained to her that nothing romantic would happen between them, and she respected his choice. But he needed to tell her that he never should have pushed her away, that he had always had feelings for her. He wanted her to know that he was very angry with himself and that he would spend his life proving to her that she was the woman of his life, his soulmate._ _

__He placed his face under the jet, erasing the tears that had escaped while thinking of his beautiful computer scientist. He was not a man to cry, but with Felicity everything was different, the pain he felt was much stronger than physical pain. When he was stabbed or shot he knew he could heal, but he wondered if surviving this pain was possible._ _

__He felt a sob invade his throat and tried desperately to swallow it. He closed his eyes and saw Felicity’s face appear before him. He moved his hands towards her and stroked her cheek. She smiled at him, still beautiful, but with a look of sadness. He wanted to take her in his arms, but she disappeared again._ _

__Oliver concentrated in hopes of bringing her back, but nothing helped. He opened his eyes quickly realising that he had just seen her while he was not dreaming. Had she felt his distress and appeared to comfort him while she was sleeping? When the water became cold he convinced himself to get out of the shower and dressed his pants and a t-shirt._ _

__He went into the kitchen and poured himself a glass of wine from the bottle that he found in the cupboard from the last time they had spent an evening together. His cell phone blinking, indicating that he had received a message and he listened to it._ _

__‘New message received on 21 August at 9 p.m. and one message saved ...." He listened to the first message "Hi it's John, I just wanted to let you know that I went out with Cisco and Roy to Big Belly Burger. If you want to come join us, we'll save you a seat. Be careful, brother. See you later."_ _

__He erased the message not wanting to go out to join them, preferring to remain in his girl's lair, next he listened to the saved message._ _

__".... Hi Oliver it's me ... Felicity ... It’s stupid you know that it's me, you recognise my voice, although sometimes you can’t recognise the voices on the phone because they are different and...I'm here babbling again, I’ll stop in 3 .. 2 .. 1. I wanted to warn you that the meeting with the Board tomorrow is at eight o'clock and Isabel will have a crisis if you are not on time, and it’s your favorite assistant who will suffer the consequences so do not forget. Well I’ll leave you to your night with ... Sara. Goodbye. "_ _

__"Felicity..." he whispered._ _

__Oliver grabbed the edge of the couch as he listened to her voice, willing her to come back to him. He listened the message two more times and at the end of the third time, his hands were shaking. He was breathless and his heart pounded like a madman in his bosom._ _

__A howl began to seep into his head, in a constant and inevitable way, until it rose from his throat and escaped through his mouth, resounding in his ears. Blinded by tears, he found his way to her room, crawled under the sheets, and buried his face in her pillow in an attempt to stifle the uncontrollable sobs that tore through his heart and body._ _


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver pushes for more answers and finds another important clue - an encrypted video tape. The team is shocked to find out who might be involved. Oliver and Felicity only share fleeting moments together… in their dreams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my beta LIngall

Felicity slept in the little room exhausted by the tears she had poured into Billy's arms just now, she was so afraid for Oliver, John and Roy.

She opened her eyes and realized that she was no longer in the small house but in her apartment, in her own room. Felicity turned to the bed hearing the most heartbreaking noises. The cover was pulled back and she could see the Oliver’s face, his cheeks wet with tears. She slowly stepped towards the bed and knelt, and reached out to stroke his face.

"Oliver," she called him softly.

The vigilante felt a presence and opened his eyes slowly. The most beautiful view lay before him. He grabbed Felicity by the neck and kissed her with passion.

"I knew you hadn't died Felicity, I told John," he said, pulling back from her to give her a moment to breathe and take in what was happening.

"I don't understand what's going on, Oliver. What am I doing here? How I can feel you touching me, kissing me," she said blushing.

"You were dreaming and felt my distress, then the bond we share brought us together."

"Our link... you mean the one I was telling you in my video.... the one where I sometimes feel you close to me when you're not there?"

"Yes exactly. Felicity, I'd like to talk to you about so many things, but I know that you might disappear at any moment, if you wake up," he said kissing her slowly again. "I miss you so much, you have to tell me where you are. I had Cisco search your computers to look for clues."

"Cisco Ramon... You called Cisco... but it's too dangerous Oliver, you have to send him back to Central City right away. Tell him to leave as soon as possible," she said, rising and moving away from the bed.

"Not until he finds the place where you are hidden Felicity. I need to know where to find you, to save you," as he stood up to get closer to her.

"I already told you not to meddle, I can’t ask you to take the risk, it is out of question. You have to understand, I can’t lose you."

"I will solve this case and find you. I love you, you have to understand." Oliver took her into his arms and pressed her against him. "Nothing will stop me from finding you, I am not afraid of the one who threatened you and made us think you were dead. "  


"No Oliver." Felicity got even closer to him. "Please stop your investigation and we'll meet again I promise you. If you are killed, all that I have done, all the pain we have suffered will have been for nothing." Felicity moved herself a little away from him and laid her forehead against his.

They breathed in tandem and their lips came together at the same time. The kiss was soft at first, and then Oliver touched her lower lip with his tongue asking for permission to enter her mouth, which she obviously obliged. The kiss intensified as their tongues dueled with each other, they both moaned as they were caught up in the passion of the moment, the lack of air forced them to separate.

"I beg you Oliver, don’t do anything. I will explain everything to you soon, but you must stay safe."

"You're really alive, aren't you, everything was a ploy. Tell me who helped you."

The young woman could not answer because like the last time, there was only emptiness near Oliver as Felicity disappeared again. Oliver woke with a start, but this time he did not look everywhere for his love knowing that they had just shared a dream due to their soulmate connection.

He dressed immediately and went out quickly from the apartment, he had to tell Cisco to change the direction of his search. He no longer needed to look for the culprit, but needed to find the person who helped Felicity to fake her death. 

Felicity also woke with a start and looked around the room. She realized that she was back in the little house. Moments ago she was with Oliver in her room, those kisses, those caresses, seemed so real, it was not possible, there had to be an explanation.

He had told her about the link between two kindred souls, she knew the story about the connected dreams, but the hearts of the two people had to be in harmony, connected by the love between them. 

She knew that Oliver did not have such strong feelings for her. He never did anything to show her the slightest interest in love. Unless he...he had told her several times that he loved her in dreams. Could she believe it? And if that were true, then Oliver knew that she was not dead, she realized that he knew that she had faked her death.

She decided that it was better to be honest with Lyla and talk to her about what had happened, but she was worried that her actions would put the couple at risk. Felicity left the room, and asked Billy to call Lyla because she had something important to tell her.

After a few minutes he passed her the phone and Felicity told Lyla about the dreams she was having and that Oliver probably knew that she was actually not dead. This meant that the team would start looking for her. Especially now that they had called on a friend from Central City who was very talented in computer science.

At first sceptical to the young woman's theory, Lyla asked her not to panic since she thought that the boys did not suspect anything. But when she called Diggle to ask if Oliver was continuing to seek the culprit in Felicity's death, she was not surprised when he told her that Oliver thought that Felicity was still alive because he had seen him in dreams. 

Lyla had to hurry to find the person who threatened the young computer scientist, otherwise there could be much more damage in this case, and possibly a real death this time around. She worried about her companion and father of her unborn child.

***********************************

When Oliver arrived in the bunker, John and Roy trained on the mats, and Cisco was still doing research on the computer. He advanced toward Cisco first and explained the new research he wanted him to do, then he approached his friends and watched them fight for a moment before taking off his T-shirt and joining them. After half an hour he began to tell them about what had happened to him just now while he was sleeping.

"I saw Felicity again," he said, looking at John.

The former soldier stopped suddenly, looking intensely at the vigilante. This allowed Roy to get in a shot to Diggle’s ribs, and he was happy to have finally scored a hit to his partner.

"You dreamed of her again?"

"In fact this time, she appeared in my dream, I know it is thanks to the link that we talked about Cisco.”

"So you still believe she's not dead?"

"She didn’t die John, I held her in my arms, I kissed her and I felt her shivers and her love for me. We just need to find her. She helped me understand the reason why she had to fake her death."

"But it was just a dream, Oliver. Your subconscious made her appear before you because you miss her so much. You hoping that you haven’t lost her. You blame yourself for not confessing your feelings when you had the chance, and now your mind has created these intimate situations. But it’s not real, it’s only in your head."

"No... You're wrong John.... It's real, " Oliver demands, stepping off the mats.  
"I held her in my arms and I felt her heart beating against me. If she were really dead I would not have felt her heart... I know she's alive, everything inside of me tells me that I have a chance to be with her. Why don’t you want to believe she's alive?"

"Oliver, you that told me that it was her on the operating table, that you touched her. If you hadn’t seen her body I would be sceptical like you, but you have proof that she is dead."

"I don't know how she could have seemed dead on that table but she's alive, she's like your little sister. You should believe me, and see that we haven't lost her forever"

"I would love to believe it, I swear I would give anything for her to be here with us, but I'm being realistic. I'm so sorry, but you have to accept that she's gone, that she left us."

"No," yelled the vigilante. "Our bond has brought us together so I know the truth and I'll prove it to you. She's hiding somewhere and someone is helping her. I'm going to find her with or without you."

"You’ll say anything Oliver," cried John. "Who could have helped her apart from us, she would never have gone to the police. How she would have faked her death? We were there when she was shot."

"I do not know how she accomplished it or who helped her but I do know one thing John, she is alive, I have not lost the love of my life. Soon you’ll see that I’m right."

His old bodyguard was going to refute him again when Cisco came over to them. "I may have the answer to one of your questions."

"What question?" asked the Vigilante.

"I found a video that Felicity had encrypted so that no one could watch it, but I broke her code, with a little trouble because she is really talented, but it’s done. The video shows her talking to a woman. "

"Could you locate where the video was filmed?" asks Diggle, "or see the face of the woman?"

"Who do you think it is John?"

"Waller!! I can see that she could have helped Felicity. I asked Lyla if Amanda knew anything about our girl's death, she said no, but I felt like she was hiding something from me."

"You're right Dig, Amanda could very well have helped Felicity fake her death so that afterward she could use her skills for Argus dirty work," said the angry archer.

"Amanda must have blackmailed her. She could have offered to keep the rest of us safe from her stalker, in exchange for Felicity working with Argus. Felicity would have done anything to protect us."

"You have to go see Waller and make her give us Felicity. I will even offer to work for her on a future mission, I'm not going to leave the woman I love in her clutches." He put on his T-shirt ready to go see the director of the Argus when Cisco stopped him in his tracks with a question.

"Does this woman know where your lair is, because the video was shot here."

"We have cameras here?" said Roy, astonished. "I guess I’ll have to be careful what I do then."

"I'd say Oliver should be the one hiding due to some of his activities," said Cisco.

The vigilante looked at him not understanding very well what he was talking to him until a memory of a moment alone with himself came to mind. It had been three months ago, he was coming back from a patrol, he had entered the bunker and found it empty, he thought everyone was gone when he heard a noise. Ready to battle with the intruder he had picked up his bow and had set himself in firing position. 

Everything happened so fast. He had almost let the arrow fly when he realized that it was Felicity who was coming out of the bathroom only dressed in a towel. The towel had fallen to the ground as the young woman howled with fear and raised her hands to say ‘Don’t Shoot!’.

Those events had given Oliver a very specific view of her beautiful body for only a few moments, but it was enough for him. After her departure and apologies for using the shower, he could not help himself to imagine the young woman screaming his name at the ultimate moment. He never thought that their moment alone could have been recorded and even less that it had been stored in the young woman's computer. It was John's words that pulled him out of his thoughts.

"Waller never came into the bunker but Felicity could have made an appointment to meet with her."

Cisco started the video and they saw Felicity sitting in her chair in front of her desk holding some kind of paper in her hands. She raised her head when she heard footsteps on the stairs and was able to see the person she had asked to come.

"LYLA!" cried John. "She lied to me." He was very angry but continued to watch the video.

_"So, Felicity, tell me why you asked me to meet you here, without telling Johnny? Did Waller contact you for a dirty job and you want me to help you figure out a way to refuse her?"_

_"No. This has nothing to do with the Argus. I... I got this when I was at Alfredo's and I'm pretty panicky. I know I could have talked to the police, but it's not just me.”_

_Lyla began to read the paper while keeping an eye on Felicity who was trembling in front of her._

_"Why are you telling me and not the team?_

_"You read the letter, he wants to make them suffer and kill them one by one."_

_"You know that Oliver, and even John will suspect that something is wrong, given your demeanor. You're trembling, they will see that you’ve been crying.”_

_"That's why I dodged them yesterday and didn’t come here during their patrol. I had a panic attack. I didn’t want them to see me like this. I would have thought that by this morning I would be better but I still cracked after calling you. I really need you to help me find this madman and prevent him from revealing Oliver’s secret."_

_"Or you could just tell them Felicity. They know how to defend themselves, they do this every night."_

_"No.... I can't risk anything happening to them because of me, they're going to put themselves in danger to find the culprit and their secrets will be revealed. I can't risk it happening, I have to do everything to protect them "_

_"I understand Felicity but I'm not sure they'll appreciate you keeping this secret."_

_"I know Lyla... but I have no other choice than to hide them from a madman wants me for himself and that he is willing to kill them for it. I have a week before... "_

_She stopped talking as she heard more footsteps on the staircase, Lyla turned and saw Oliver who stopped in his tracks seeing them both in front of Felicity’s computer. When his gaze moved towards Felicity he saw her red eyes and streaks of makeup on her cheeks. He approached her quickly._

_"Felicity?" said Oliver anxiously, "have you been crying?"_

_She did not answer him or even look at him as his fingers settled on her knees. She was afraid she would crack and tell him everything. Lyla slipped the letter into her coat and approached the couple._

_"Don't worry Oliver, there's nothing wrong, we were just talking about a private thing between women."_

_"And this private thing made her cry?" He turned to the young woman and knelt down in front of her. "Tell me why you are crying Felicity? Who hurt you?"_

_"Don't worry Oliver, nothing serious has happened," Lyla said to him._

_"I'm not asking you," he said, looking at her sharply before turning to Felicity again. "Were you attacked? Are you hurt?"_

_"No. Nothing happened to me Oliver... No one has attacked me... I was just having coffee with Lyla.”_

_"But your hands are trembling, your cheeks are still covered with the tears you've shed, tell me what happened to you Felicity. You know I'd do anything to help you."_

_"I told you there is nothing, it's just that I..." She stared at him, wanting to tell him everything but the fear of losing him because of this madman took over and she proceeded to lie to him for the first time since they had started their mission together._

_"When we were talking about how John was going to be a wonderful dad… I thought about my father. That's all, I promise you," as she forced herself to smile at him. It broke her heart to lie to him._

_Lyla watched how Oliver looked at his IT girl, begging her to explain what was really going on. Felicity did not yield and Oliver stood back up and looked at her again. He was very disappointed by her reaction, that she didn’t trust him enough to tell the truth._

_Oliver left the two women in the bunker. He knew that Felicity had lied to him, she was a terrible liar, just like he was. He wanted to know the real story. When they heard the door close, Lyla approached the young woman._

_"I don't think he believed you. You're going to have to do whatever it takes to hide your fear in front of them Felicity. Are you sure that you have no idea who sent you this threatening letter?”_

_"No. I have no idea and it does not seem Arrow related or otherwise they would have taken me instead of writing me a letter."_

_"And in your past, is there anyone with whom you had problems, anyone who would want to incriminate you?"_

_"No, When I was at MIT, I focused on my studies. I wonder how he discovered Oliver's secret?”_

_"I bet the jealousy of seeing you with another man must have made him crazy, so he followed Oliver thinking he'd catch you cheating and he found out his secret instead."_

_"He did all this for nothing because there is nothing between Oliver and me, he doesn’t see me at all like that, we are partners and friends that's all."_

_Lyla knew that the Felicity had feelings for Oliver, John had told her about it, and since she witnessed first hand his concern for her just now she wondered if in fact he did return her feelings._

_She reminded Felicity that they would have to be discreet about their meetings. Waller was not to know about the threats to Felicity, otherwise she would blackmail her into working for Argus, and that would not be productive. John would never want his friend to be given over to a wolf like Amanda Waller._

_"I'll try to find out who might have followed you. I look into every possibility since it may deal with your work with the Arrow - so we're not neglecting anything. Moreover I will contact the son of an old friend that I served with in the army who can watch you so that nothing happens to you while we figure this out. "_

_"Thanks for helping me, Lyla," said Felicity, giving her a hug. "I want to find out who is responsible, but I am very afraid that this man will take on Diggle, Roy and Oliver. I just hope they don't mind us not telling them."_

_"Johnny will probably be very angry with me, but I'd rather hide the truth from him and keep him alive with me and our child. But I hope he will be thankful that I have protected you too." ___

__Diggle was ranting behind Oliver, he had asked Lyla a few days ago if she knew anything and she had sworn to him that she barely knew Felicity, so she couldn't possibly know what was happening. She had even called him not an hour ago to find out if Oliver was continuing his research, and she had lied to him again._ _

__"Now we know that Waller did not blackmail Felicity and who really helped her, we need to confront Lyla," said Oliver._ _

__"No, this is the woman I love we are talking about. The one who I'm going to have a child with. She has been lying to me for several days. She didn’t say anything when she saw how sad I was to have lost Felicity, who I consider to be my little sister. A couple's life is built on trust and she has betrayed that trust," he said through clenched teeth.  
"Lyla must have helped Felicity fake her death," said Oliver, "we need to talk to her to find out where she's hiding Felicity." His hope was growing._ _

__"Felicity would never have agreed to fake her death Oliver. She would never have wanted to see us suffer because of her. Stop hoping she's still alive, you'll destroy yourself, you've only dreamed of her and you need to accept her death so the dreams will stop."_ _

__"She's alive," said the vigilante, throwing himself at his friend to hit him in the face, but he pulled back. "Stop saying she's dead!"_ _

__"Dammit OLIVER! We were there, we saw her die," screamed the former military man._ _

__"She can't be dead JOHN!"_ _

__"Why OLIVER, Tell me WHY!"_ _

__"I should have died too," said the archer as he fell to his knees. "I love her so much that my heart should have stopped the moment she was dead. I saw her in my dreams,and I keep hoping that she is alive and that she will come back to me. That is all that keeps me holding on John."_ _

__"I'm sorry for getting mad at you Oliver, I want to hope that she's alive too and only faked her death, but how could she do it?"_ _

__"Your wife works for Argus. I'm sure they have plenty of ways to make people believe that someone's dead," said Roy, looking at them._ _

__"Why didn't she tell me she was helping our friend?" thought Diggle._ _

__"For the same reason that Felicity lied, to protect us. She doesn’t want that bastard to kill us."_ _

__John dialed Lyla, but the call went directly to the answering machine. He left her a message asking her to wait for him at the apartment so they could discuss something very important. He said goodbye to the men in the bunker and set out to his apartment, ready to face the explanations of his companion and to find out whether or not she had faked Felicity's death._ _

__"I found another coded video," said Cisco. "This may give us more clues."_ _

__Oliver gave a nod to Cisco, who had already begun his work on decrypting the video, and left him to his work while he went to lie on the bed that Felicity had recently bought him telling him that she could no longer bear to see him sleeping on the floor. He closed his eyes hoping to be able to sleep to find her in her dream again._ _

__When he opened his eyes he saw the love of his life on a small bed in a room that he did not recognize. She was looking at him intensely. He approached the bed in two strides, lifted her up and surrounded her with his arms._ _

__"I beg you my love, please tell me that you are alive. Tell me that I have reason to believe, that our link really exists..."_ _

__"Oliver I..."_ _

__She did not finish her sentence as his lips were already devouring hers. He needed to reassure himself that this was not just a dream as John suggested. As he ran out of breath he pulled back, planting his gaze in hers. She could see the fear in his eyes._ _

__"I'm alive Oliver but I can't tell you where I am because I don't know myself."_ _

__"Thank God," he said kissing her again and squeezing her more tightly._ _

__"Cisco found a video where you're talking to Lyla about the letter you received."_ _

__"When you found me trembling and crying in the bunker?"_ _

__"Yes. I didn’t remember at first, I had forgotten that moment. I didn’t realize that you were in trouble, why did you lie to me?"_ _

__"I'm sorry, Oliver," she said, stroking his cheek. "I was so scared for you, John and Roy. I'm still panicking that something bad will happen to you because of me. I won't survive if you die."_ _

__"Did Lyla help you fake your death?"_ _

__There was no answer because the room disappeared as well as the young woman. Oliver opened his eyes and he was again on his bed in the bunker. He was so frustrated at not being able to stay with her. He needed to find her as soon as possible. She was alive, she had confirmed him._ _

__John was wrong and he would prove it to him soon._ _


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The details of the threat to Felicity’s life are revealed, as well as the plan to thwart the stalker. Every member of Team Arrow continues to work through the strange situation that they are in. What was Felicity thinking?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks my beta LIngall

The police station was in full swing. The fact that the archer had not been seen in the streets for a while meant that the small time criminals of Star City could take advantage of his absence. This created a lot more work for the police in addition to the two murders of Cooper Seldon and Felicity Smoak that had occurred a few days apart .

Among all the individuals, a brown man who was quite large, walked directly to the reception desk and asked to speak to Captain Lance. He wanted to talk about the case of Felicity Smoak's murder. A moment after Quentin came to greet him and he directed him to his office.

"Sit down," said Quentin. "My desk sergeant alerted me that you wanted to discuss to murder of Felicity Smoak. Do you have any clues? Are you a witness?"

"Not at all," says the man. "I am a reporter for the Starling City Chronicle and I am very interested in the death of this young woman."

"If you are a reporter you will get no information about the case from us, you must know the investigation is confidential," said Lance angrily. "Get out of my office," he cried.

"I understand and I do not want to interfere in the investigation, but I would very much like to interview Mr. Queen. From what I heard he was with Miss Smoak during the shooting."

"He is a witness but you have no right to know the details of this case. I don't even understand why you want to write about the murder of this exceptional young woman," said the Captain as he stood up and banged his fists on the table.

"I don't want to write about his murder, Captain, under no circumstances would I allow myself to write an article about her murder," he said clenching his fists with anger.

"So what are you doing here sir...? I don't even know your name."

"Ryan... Ryan Jones. In fact I have been following Miss Smoak's career since she was promoted to executive assistant to Mr. Queen at his company. I like to write about people who climb the corporate hierarchy because of their talent. A year ago I was scheduled to interview her but there was an attack and I focused on the thought of saving my own life at that time. But now I would like to write an article about this young woman postmortem and who better to inform me than her friend."

"Mr. Queen is grieving. He will not speak to you about Felicity Smoak. You journalists have no respect for the loss of important people in our lives. I'll tell you kindly once more, this is enough, leave before I lock you up in a cell. Get out!!"

The man came out of the captain’s office, his anger bubbling to the surface, so frustrated that he could not get close to his enemy. He was convinced that he could go through the captain to reach him. But he had underestimated Lance’s relationship with Oliver Queen, he was protecting him from journalists. He could go to Queen's ex-girlfriend, Laurel Lance, a lawyer but he put that idea aside immediately suspecting that her father would also prevent that connection.

Sitting in his car, he tapped on the steering wheel with all his might. How was he going to get close enough to him to stab him in the heart. He realized after a while that he would have no choice but to catch him by surprise, his idea of being able to gain his confidence before killing him was impossible now. Because of him the only woman he had ever loved was dead, he would make him pay.

*****************************************

It had been five days since Felicity came to the abandoned house. She was still waiting for Lyla to call her to say that the case was finally solved and that she could go back to Oliver. Billy was very sweet and gentle too, trying to make her smile as much as possible. Sometimes she let herself laugh at his crazy stories about his investigations. But as she found herself alone in this room, she had only one desire, to fall asleep to dream of her vigilante, to feel him take her in his arms and kiss her.

She wondered what it would be like to really feel his lips on hers, to finally be able to caress his torso, to make love with him. Felicity shook her head. She needed to get those ideas out of her head. There might not even be another kiss as soon as he found out that she had lied to him, he might no longer want to see her. In her dreams he was madly in love for her, but reality might be completely different. Oliver was very stubborn too and would not accept the lie. She had to wait to see what would happen once everything was over.

Felicity knew that without the damn anonymous letter she would never have been separated from him. She was filled with anger just thinking of that anonymous person who had wronged her, who had frightened her when she had read that piece of paper. She was not an angry person, and always saw the good in people, but this man made her angry whenever she thought of the situation. He had made her weak. She was a strong person, but he had forced her to lie and to betray her friend’s trust. She hated him to the depths of her being.

She remembered very well the morning when her world had fallen upside down. She was in her favorite coffee shop where she came every morning to grab her obligatory drink that was the start of a good day. Since she was no longer working at Queen Consolidated but in this damn computer store she had much more time to savor Alfredo's good coffee. Looking at her watch she noticed that she had time to enjoy a second cup, so she went to the counter to place her order. 

Once she had returned to her table she saw the envelope. Felicity looked around to see who might have left it on the table. She set down her cup and sat on the bench, gently taking the envelope and opening it cautiously with her spoon, lest something could flow from the inside. After making sure that there was nothing dangerous in the envelope, she had relaxed and pulled out a yellowish paper like the old papers of yesteryear, with a message typed with the old typewriter of the same time as the paper, she unfolded the letter. Felicity feared the worst now given the mystery of the envelope.

"To my sweet Felicity,

You are so beautiful that I would watch you for hours working in this store, or sitting on your couch with that pink blanket surrounded around you. I would love to be alone with you and cuddle you, to prove to you that you are the most desirable woman on earth. To caress and to adore you every night, every night holding you in my arms, making love to you again and again. But an obstacle lies in my path, the man with the beard.

What do I need to do to show you that you don't have a choice and will need to come and join me soon? Maybe if tell you what I'd do to your friends if you don't come to me. Yes... here... To start I will slowly torture your friends the big black man with thick arms and the little man with his red hoodie, then after some fun I’ll finish by killing them. 

Next I’ll go to Las Vegas and visit your dear mother. And of course I'll finish up up with your muscular boyfriend, tearing out his eyes so he can’t look at you, cutting off his hands so he can’t touch you anymore. Cutting off his manhood so he can no longer make love to you. And I will take malicious pleasure in killing him.

Of course I don't advise you to talk about this letter to your boyfriend because I have to tell you that I know his secret identity, I never thought he liked playing the vigilante with a bow and arrows. I'm willing to give all my evidence to the police, to a reporter, or even to all the criminals in the city. I think they would all be very happy to learn who Arrow is. Don't you believe my love? You wouldn't want him to go to jail or even be killed.

I'm going to give you a week to deal with your vigilante, and don't forget that I'm watching you. I will know if you talk to him. If you want to keep them alive, do everything according to my rules.

Then we'll both be together forever. Together for eternity.

Until I see you again, I'll think of all the beautiful things I will do to your sublime body when you're in my arms.

Soon my Goddess, with my everlasting love.

After she read the letter a large ball had formed in her throat. The bile had begun to rise in her esophagus causing an intensive burn. She went to the bathroom of the coffee shop, locking herself inside and then she let the tears flow. She gripped the letter very firmly. Felicity found it hard to breathe, she was having a panic attack. She slid along the door, and grasped her knees to her chest and began to rock back and forth trying to calm down. Who was that madman who had left her this letter? Who wanted to hurt her family, her friends? Who wanted to hurt Oliver? Her vigilante, her love.

She slowly began to calm down and think. She could fend for herself and do some research on the paper to see where it was from. Talking to Oliver or John was not an option, she didn't want to risk their secret or their lives. She went out of the bathroom, and then left the coffee shop forgetting about her mug on the table. As she walked down the street, she looked at each man she passed with suspicion.

When she arrived at the bunker, Felicity made sure no one was there and then started her analysis. After two hours of unsuccessful research she decided to confide in someone, the only person she could, Lyla Michaels. Lyla was not part of the team but Felicity had already met her twice. Felicity thought that since she had helped to get her out of prison in Russia that maybe Lyla would help her in return.

That's how Lyla got into this crazy affair when she helped the young woman find a way out of her predicament and hatched this plan. Letting out a breath, Felicity had hoped that this nightmare would soon be over. If the connection between her and Oliver was real, and his dreams were the same, her friends had to know that her death had been a ruse. Now that he had seen the video she hoped he would understand. In addition the Archer had told her that he had asked Cisco to come from Central City, and if he really searched her computer he would find the encrypted videos and decipher them.

She just had to hope that Lyla would quickly finds clues about this madman and catch him before he got close to the archer and hurt him. She closed her eyes and wished that nothing would happen to the man she loved or to John or Roy.

**********************************

Diggle waited for his companion for an hour, anger bubbling up inside him, upset that she had lied to him. He telephoned her several times but she never answered. After a while he understood that she was not coming to join him. He returned to Verdant where the archer was waiting for answers.

He was angry when he arrived at the bunker and explained to the vigilante that Lyla had not come home, and that he could not reach her. Diggle suggested to Oliver that they spar so he could to blow off some steam. During their training, Oliver explained to Diggle that he had seen Felicity again in a dream.

"I know that you are convinced that I see her in my dreams to avoid thinking about her death, but that has nothing to do with it Digg. I know the suffering of losing a loved one, Tommy my best friend, then my mother killed by Slade and Shado on the island. I didn't want anyone to die, it took me a long time to accept their deaths. But I assure you that I have never dreamed of them the way I have with Felicity."

"I'm trying to believe that she's alive, Oliver, that your love created this bond that has brought you together during your dreams, but we all saw what happened. How could this girl we have known for two years, the one who does not like lying, have betrayed us by faking her death? "

"I don't know John but she made me understand that it wasn't real, she's alive."

"I don't see her hurting you after the losses you've already suffered, she's loved you for too long, buddy. For me it is inconceivable that she would hurt you just to escape a madman "

"I've always trusted everything you say to me, John," said the vigilante sitting on the training mats. "I have always listened to your advice, your ideas, but this time I am convinced, she is alive and faked her death. I'm going to find the sick man who scared her and bring her back to us. "

Diggle understood his reaction, his friend wanted the women he loved to be returned to him at any cost. He hoped the Archer was right to believe these dreams because if all those moments he spent with Felicity were only illusion, Starling City would no longer have a vigilante. Oliver would live on his island forever, his heart destroyed.

Diggle prepared to train with the vigilante but he barely had time to hang up his jacket as Cisco came to them to tell him that he had finally finished decoding the second video.

They watched on the screen as Lyla phoned Felicity and asked her to join her at the bunker as soon as possible. She explained to her that she had managed to send the team on a mission that would take them a two good hours. After fifteen minutes the noises of heels were heard on the staircase and Felicity appeared on the recording too.

_"Hello Lyla, I got here quickly as possible, but I'm still looking over my shoulder and all around me to make sure that no one is following me, it's very stressful."_

_“Great job Felicity, you have to be careful."_

_"So what did you want to talk to me about? Did you find the person who wrote me this anonymous letter?"_

_"Not yet I'm sorry. But I didn't bring you here to tell you that."_

_"Ah okay... I thought that... it doesn't matter, I’ll hear what you have to say."_

_"I searched like you asked to find out where the paper could have come from, looked for possible fingerprints on the letter and the envelope, but he must have used gloves. I found the seller for this old type of paper, unfortunately they paid in cash so no name or address of the buyer."_

_"And what about the pictures I received outside my door the day before yesterday?"_

_"I ran into a dead end just like you. I really looked for this sick guy everywhere Felicity and... "_

_"You can drop it," said the computer scientist." I understand Lyla, don't worry, I will get my life in order and go with him, this is the only solution I have left to be able to protect my team....I don’t blame you, far from it with everything you did to help me but... "_

_"I was going to say that I have a plan," said Lyla, "and I doubt you’ll like it, but it is our only choice."_

_"What do you mean I'm not going to like your plan? If it can help me save everyone I’ll do it."_

_"Even if it's making your stalker believe you're dead? As well as the team?" she said. If he thinks you're dead he will end his vendetta against all the people listed in the letter "_

_"What are you trying to say?" asked Felicity,l standing up and planting herself in front of Lyla. "Do you mean that... "_

_"Yes, Felicity, we're going to stage your death."_

_"Stage my death... but that’s not possible, no one will believe that I am dead."_

_"The stalker will believe your dead Felicity, especially if there are witnesses.... the papers will talk about it"_

_"What? He will believe I’m dead but the team will too... They are my friends…”_

_Lyla cut her off, "we need to do this Felicity, and believe me I am not happy about having to lie to Johnny or Oliver about this, nor anyone else but we have no other choice."_

_"I can't! I can't do this without them knowing that it's a ruse."_

_"Felicity! This madman has followed you for weeks and took pictures of you. He even thinks you have a relationship with Oliver. He may be watching for reactions from Oliver after the news of your death comes out. He will see right away that it may be a trick if everyone doesn’t react as expected."_

_"I can't Lyla !! "_

_"Oliver is far too protective of you to let you go ahead with this plan, he will do anything to dissuade you or prevent us from moving forward. And John will be exactly the same, believe me."_

_Lyla approached Felicity and said, "If I could had found another way where we had more time, I would try that, but we can’t wait. You only have two days left before his deadline.”_

_"How do you expect Oliver to believe that I'm dead? You know he's going to want proof."_

_"I know and the evidence will have to be irrefutable in his eyes," Lyla said gently._

_"What do you mean?" Felicity began to understand what her friend was asking for and it did not sound pleasant at all._

_"What I mean is that he will believe in your death only if he is there at the moment when it happens."_

_"No.." Felicity began shaking her head. She didn't want to inflict that extra pain on him. "I can't put him through that after he saw Ivo kill Shado and Slade kill his mother right in front of him. That would be too cruel of me. I need to talk to him about this plan."_

_"You know that he will want to see your body. If he does, he will not look for anything further. He will have the evidence in front of him.”_

_"You realize what you're asking me to do to Oliver and John. Could you look at the man you love and watch him die in front of your eyes? I know I couldn't. I would, but only if they know the plan."_

_"Of course not. I couldn't do that to Johnny. But if it was the only solution to save his life I would do it without thinking."_

_"I'm going to lose him completely Lyla, he won't want to see me anymore, won't want me on the team anymore. John loves you and would forgive you if it were you doing a similar thing. Oliver only sees me as his partner, he will never forgive me for a betrayal like this." Felicity began to cry. " I love him more than anything, and I do not want this madman to attack him, but what you’re asking is impossible "_

_"I know you don't want to hurt him and that is why I'm proposing that you undertake this dishonest act. You have to go through with it because otherwise he's going to die, and so might John. We'll do everything we can to catch this madman so you can get back to him as soon as possible."_

_"I can't...I prefer to die by the hands of this madman rather than make him endure this suffering."_

_"Do you think he won’t suffer if this man kills you....? It will be the same Felicity, except that with the plan I propose, he won’t really lose you, you will return to him."_

_"Okay you're right, I agree but I just hope that I'm not going to lose everything that is important in my life here in Starling in the process."_

_"Felicity, I also hope that I won’t lose John now that I have finally found him and we are expecting a child. This plan will put my marriage in danger too, that makes me want to shoot a bullet in that bastard's head when we find him."_

_"The line forms behind me," said the smiling young woman. "Thank you for risking your family as well, even though I know you will still have the man you love when all of this is over," she said sadly._

_"Come on Felicity, let’s get out of here before they come back from their mission. Oliver won't believe we’re having another girl discussion when he sees your tears." ___

__Cisco stopped the video and he stepped away so as not to disturb the men of Team Arrow. No one spoke as they were all so surprised by what they had just seen. Oliver finally had confirmation that the woman he loved was not dead, it was only a plan to fool the one who had threatened them. He had clearly seen on the video that she did not want to make him suffer, that she had refused the plan several times and that she really wanted him to know the truth._ _

__Of course he was upset that he was left out and it felt like there was a hole inside his heart following Felicity’s death. In a certain way he was thankful because it had opened his eyes to his feelings. He knew now that he could not live without her. She had done all this to protect him and her partners. She was so afraid for him that she went along with the plan knowing full well that she might lose him forever since she thought that he felt nothing for her. He cared for her even more after seeing this video._ _

__Diggle went to take out his anger on the training dummy. He was banging on it like crazy. How could the woman he loved, whom he had married once before been able to lie to him so easily. Didn’t she know how unhappy he was with the loss of his little sister? He knew that she had done this to save her friend, but at what cost. The destruction of his marriage, a betrayal that might never heal. She had known about it, she knew what she was likely to lose. Lyla could have big problems at Argus too for using resources without Waller's consent and yet she had continued with her plan._ _

__After Russia, Diggle explained to her that he had found a new family with his team and that he would do everything for them as they had just done everything to save her, without thinking of the consequences. The most important thing was that the family always remained safe. He stopped hitting the dummy as he realized that in fact she had helped a member of his family. She had gone to the extreme for him. She could have done otherwise but the time was running out, her companion did not want him to lose another family member, like his brother._ _

__His wrath fainted gently from his body and love for his wife and the mother of his child filled his heart. But she should still explain to him why she didn't tell him, he would have kept her secret._ _

__Roy came down the stairs pretty quickly and this pulled them out of their thoughts. He explained that he had received some mail more than a week ago, but since he had not been sleeping at home for a while, he had only noticed the envelope this morning._ _

__"And this concerns us because..." asked the Archer._ _

__"It's a letter from Felicity with a safety deposit box number at Starling's bank," replied Roy._ _

__"I went to the bank this morning, the safe was in my name and I found this inside," he said showing a fairly thick envelope._ _

__Oliver opened the envelope immediately and a number of polaroid photos fell out. As he flipped them over he found that they showed several moments of them coming out of the office, out of his apartment or out of the alley behind the Verdant. He realized that someone had been watching them for a long time since some of the photos had been taken before Slade's attack. As he looked at the photos with Diggle and Roy's his heart began to beat even faster. There were even some of him in Arrow's costume, and John and Roy dressed for patrol. Holding the pictures in his hands made his body tremble with rage._ _

__"This madman knows who we are," growled the archer. "He's been spying on us for a while."_ _

__"There's something else in the envelope Oliver," Roy said._ _

__The vigilante took out a letter and began reading it aloud to his partners, it was the infamous threatening letter. The three men felt an immediate and intense hatred for the man who had made Felicity's and their lives a living hell._ _

__"She left me a note in the box asking me to give you this envelope Oliver, so you can find her stalker."_ _

__"I don't understand," said Digg, "We saw videos of her with Lyla, she didn't want us to find out what happened to her."_ _

__Arsenal took out a note from his pocket and began to read it, "Roy, I need you to give this envelope to Oliver. This is very important. I could have dropped it off at your place, but he’s watching and I don't want him to find out. Lyla asked me not to say anything, but I can't agree to make all of you believe I’m dead without any information. I can’t stand the thought that Oliver will suffer because of me, you know how I feel about him. Please take care of yourself."_ _

__"She sent you that safety deposit box number before she got shot," says the archer, "Why didn't you open the box before this all happened?"_ _

__"I'm sorry Oliver but as I told you I haven't been sleeping at home for a while, since Thea actually left. I never thought she would send me a letter, I'm not as close to her as the two of you."_ _

__"I knew she wouldn't do anything without telling you Oliver," said John. "It would be impossible for her to make you suffer."_ _

__"But I suffered, we all suffered from her death. If I hadn't seen her in my dreams I would still be believing that I had lost her forever."_ _

__"You're right, and I apologize for doubting you Oliver, about your shared bond. But Roy had no reason to have known about the existence of this envelope before now. He no longer lives at home, his life, his choice as our Felicity would say."_ _

__The vigilante smiled at his friend, he was right, now they were left with only one thing to do. Find this sick bastard and bring the woman he loves back home She had been gone long enough._ _


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity’s patience is wearing thin as she waits at the safehouse under Billy’s watchful eyes while Lyla continues to search for her stalker. Lyla and Diggle finally clear the air. She shares an important clue with Felicity, and it may be the breakthrough they need to solve the mystery. Can Team Arrow stop him before he attacks?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks my Bêta Llingalls

It was the morning of the sixth day, Billy and Felicity were still at the house, the young woman could no longer stand to be locked up, not being able to go out. She loved movies but began to hate them because she had been watching them nonstop. Lyla had called them this morning to say that she still had no leads but that she would keep looking. She had planned to meet someone who could help her with the photos and find out with what camera they had been taken. Lyla hoped she could use that information to track the seller and the buyer of the infamous device, since it was an antique.

This news gave Felicity little comfort, and was still morose being stuck at the house. Felicity spent her day reliving the last terrible moments in Oliver's arms. She continued to hear his words several times, asking her to hold on, to open her beautiful eyes. The sorrow in his voice was hard to bear, she could feel his hand in hers squeezing very hard, and the pressure of his other hand on her chest while he was trying to save her life. It had taken all of her courage to keep her eyes closed, staying still in his arms and breathing very slowly and very gently. Once the injection from the device place directly on her body had been triggered at the time of impact, it began to slow her pulse and breathing difficult.

As Felicity thought about the measures she had undertaken to ensure realism she cried again. She had worn blood packs under her clothes, and when the projectiles reached their target, they burst and the impact created the blood stains on her shirt. Lyla and Billy had installed it her when she went to the Big Belly Burger bathroom. The impact had been terribly painful, she still had a bruise. Felicity knew where the bullet fired by Tockman had hit her shoulder, but this time, even though there weren’t really bullets fired, the pain had been real. She felt the blood flowing while she listened to Oliver whisper soft words, his tortured voice repeating her name over and over again. He had asked her not to leave him, that he needed her. But she had not been able to answer his request, with her life at stake in this story.

Even though she had already apologized during their meeting in their dreams, she was trying to imagine their discussion when all of this was over. She was certain that Oliver would feel betrayed that she did not have enough confidence in him to ask for help. Would he be more compassionate thanks to their recent dream connection? 

Did Cisco manage to decode the videos so that he could tell that she never wanted to hurt him? Did Roy finally recover the letter she had deposited in a safety deposit box at Starling bank? She had disobeyed Lyla by dropping the photos and the letter in a safety deposit box in the name of Roy Harper, but she could not allow her friends to suffer from losing her. But Oliver had never mentioned the pictures, he was really convinced that she was dead, it was only when he understood the bond that united them that his pain had lessened. Felicity understood that he had never received the envelope. She felt sad that her friends had to go through this ordeal of mourning. 

Felicity knew this vigilante well. She was torn between wanting to see him again and having him take her in his arms, and the fear that he would push her away again. At first he would be happy to find her but would he remain calm? Would he accept that she preferred to call on someone other than him to save her? Their connection was very strong, but were they really soul mates who could conquer everything? Felicity didn’t know, and she would have to wait for all these answers. The fear of losing him before she had even found him broke her heart.

She heard the door open and Billy returned. Billy was frequently nervous, but the young woman could see that he was much calmer than usual today. The detective sat down by her on the side of the bed.

"Hello Felicity. How are you feeling today?"

"I would like to have the chance to make sure that my friends are well and that nothing has happened to them."

Billy approached her and took her into his arms, Felicity let herself be in the moment and tightened the embrace. She liked Billy, he was so nice to her, and he also had a kind look. The detective stepped back and stared at the young woman, gently stroking her cheek, he found her so beautiful and sexy, with her beautiful blond hair and long legs. Even at this moment with his eyes closed she was still the most beautiful woman he had ever met in his life. He cleared his throat to gather courage, for it was certain that it was much more difficult to reveal his feelings toward her than to make a suspect confess.

"You are the bravest woman I know Ms Smoak."

"I don't find myself courageous, rather weak and dishonest.”

"And yet you are, in my eyes, you are the perfect woman."

"Billy, I think you should…”

"Shh."

He laid his finger on her lips for a moment and then bent over to replace them with his own lips. Billy began to kiss the young woman firmly, stroking his tongue along her lower lip. Caught in the moment, he tightened his grip but felt her hands gently push against his torso to push him away.

"What are you doing, Billy?"

"I'm sorry, I thought you liked it since you didn't push me away"

"If I didn't do it immediately, I was rather shocked. I didn't expect that from you. I don't think I've done or said anything that could make you think that I’m attracted to you," she said, getting up and walking away from him with her arms crossed on her chest.

"I apologize for overstepping. I am immensely attracted to you and I had hoped that you being here with me all this time you might feel something for me too.”

"I'm sorry Billy, but I only feel friendship and gratitude for your help with this madman, and after this is all over I hope we can stay friends, if you want, but that's all that will happen. I am in love with Oliver and even if he doesn’t love me like I love him, nothing will ever happen between us. We need to focus on solving this case, not fool around.”

"What will you do when the guy who was harassing you is locked up? Are you going to tell Oliver about your feelings?”

"I don't know, I can't think about it right now. But maybe I would.”

"If he only wants to be your friend what will you do?"

"I will accept his decision, the most important thing is that he is in my life."

"He doesn’t deserve you, you are so wonderful and caring. I wish I had the chance to have a woman like you have such strong feelings for me as you feel for him.”

"I am sincerely sorry, Billy, if you want to call Lyla to replace you..."

"That's what I said, a wonderful woman." He got up, approached her and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I will continue to watch over you as promised and afterward I would be very glad if we stayed friends." Billy left the room.

Felicity stood still thinking of the detective’s words. But for her, in her heart, there would always be only the archer. Since his return from the island her love for him had never faltered, even when she saw him with Isabel and Sarah. Felicity always kept the hope that he would return her feelings. If the dreams were really real, he was in love with her. She inwardly thanked Billy for taking her rejection well. She remembered a classmate back when she was sixteen years old who had not backed off when she pushed him away. They were only children after all and their studies were more important. Felicity didn’t remember his name. It was not serious he had to forget her too.

Felicity layed down again in search of sleep. She needed to find herself in one of her dreams with the archer so that she could feel him hugging her, she missed him so much, but she did not get there because she had a sensation deep inside her that her Oliver was in danger.

On the afternoon of the sixth day, Oliver was still in the bunker when he received the call from Captain Lance who told him that a reporter from the Starling City Chronicle, Ryan Jones, had come to him at the station to ask him to kindly put him in contact with him for a post mortem article on Felicity. The Captain reassured Oliver by telling him that he had kicked him from his office, but warned him that he should be on the lookout because the man seemed to be quite determined.

The archer thanked him for the warning and promised that he would be careful. Oliver told him that if this reporter came to see him again to please call him so he could send his lawyers, and they would lock him up. No one would be allowed to write an article about his computer scientist, no scribbler had the right to speak or distort what she was and what had happened to her. Oliver angrily hung up the phone. Who was this guy who dared to argue in front of his boss by writing an article about the woman of his life?

Ryan was angry, so furious that the Archer did not deign to go out into the streets to save innocent people. The vigilante had not shown up once since Felicity had died, in doing so he prevented him from carrying out his plan. He had really thought of everything, since the vigilante was much stronger than him he had to weaken him first. He had managed to find a product to paralyze him for a while, and there he could kill him in an alley. But nothing happened as planned because his enemy did not show up in the streets. 

He sat in front of the young woman's apartment, he knew that the vigilante had lived here since Felicity's death, and he was waiting for him. The rage he felt towards Oliver Queen broke out deep inside him, he wanted to kill him today, now, tonight. He would take this Robin Hood by surprise who had stolen the only property of value he had in life... Felicity Smoak . He had managed to infiltrate the apartment without difficulty and left a gift for the vigilante.... After that night Starling City will have to get by without the Arrow.

After raging on the training dummy, Oliver returned to Felicity's apartment to sleep and dream of her. After a good shower, he left to lie down on her bed. In the street, hidden in the shadows a monster watched, waiting for the best time to attack.

Meanwhile at the safehouse, after several hours of tossing and turning in her bed, avoiding closing her eyes so as not to see images of the man she loved bathing in his own blood, a knife in his heart. Felicity let the fatigue take over. When she opened her eyes, she was in the bedroom of her apartment, looking at her vigilante lying in the bed.

Oliver felt caresses in his hair, he did not dare open his eyes taking advantage of this feeling of well-being which gave him pleasure. Then the sensation of lips on his cheeks made him open his eyes, and he dove into those of his magnificent geek.

"God you are so beautiful," he whispered.

"I miss you, I don’t want to be away from you any longer."

"I miss you too, but if you tell me where you're hidden I could come and get you."

"I can’t.”

The archer sat up and brought Felicity with him. He took her hands in his own. "I beg you. Help me to find you. I know that you left with Lyla after you faked your death, thanks to the videos."

"I wish I could tell you Oliver. Now that you're aware, that you know I'm alive, I want to be with you, and not just in those dreams, but I can't because I don't know where I am, just that it's an old Argus safehouse."

"Lyla did what she needed to to protect you, she locked you up in an Argus safehouse that even Waller doesn't know about. She helped you fake your death to make the stalker think that we would forget about you, he lost. But I need to hold you in my arms to see that you're really alive, that you're safe.”

"You can do it now, even if we dream and we are in two different places. I feel your hands on me, your kisses like we are together. I just want you to hold me in your arms.”

The archer nodded his head and lay down again in the bed dragging the young woman with him. He stroked her face, and then gently laid his lips on hers. Like each time before, the simple kiss intensified. He moved his mouth to her neck, to sprinkle it with kisses. He had loved to contemplate this part of her body from afar; he wanted so much to make love to her, but he would wait for them to be together, not in a dream. She positioned herself under the blankets, laid her hand on his torso and slid her head into the hollow of his neck. The vigilante closed his eyes feeling happy to have the love of his life by his side.

A few hours after lying down with Felicity at his side, he raised his head from the pillow, his eyes adjusting to the light of the room which was now illuminated by the moonlight. He hoped that all this would end quickly, he wanted to find her so he could really take her in his arms. But on the other hand he felt anger bubbling beneath the surface. Lyla had lied to them, to both he and Diggle. Even though he had seen on the video that his young computer scientist had not wanted to follow this plan at first, she had nevertheless accepted with full knowledge of the facts. She did not know that he loved her. 

They were partners and she had to have guessed that he would suffer from the loss. Even if she had no idea that he would feel like he had lost a part of himself, she would have suspect that he would blame himself for her death, and the guilt that would gnaw on him. She had always said that trust was paramount in their work, but she had not trusted him enough to share her troubles. His heart longed for Felicity to be back at his side as quickly as possible, but his head was playing tricks and stirring up a lot of anger.

He got up, pushing away the feelings that were torturing him from the inside out. Oliver took a few steps when suddenly he stopped next to the bed. He frowned as he felt a strange sensation that he had often known on the island, as is someone was watching. He knew that his instincts were never wrong so he looked into each room to make sure no one had infiltrated the apartment,and then came back next to the bed. When he realized that there were no intruders, he scanned the horizon through the window of the room. 

Oliver felt it, a person looking at him, spying on him. Suspecting that the person who was watching him now would be the one who had written the letter to Felicity, he decided not make any movement in case he was still awake. Two could play that game. Five years in hell had trained him well. 

He left the room and walked to the small kitchen to get a drink from the bottle of water on the counter, poured two glasses and stopped at the couch to retrieve his phone before returning to the bed. He grabbed a sweater from Felicity who was dragging and hugging in his hands and breathing it. (I don’t understand - is Felicity there with him or is he just smelling one of her sweaters?)

He closed his eyes listening for the slightest sound, waiting for the attack, but he felt his body relax. Oliver tried to keep his eyes open when he heard a noise in the living room. He put the palm of his hand on the bed to raise himself but his legs did not cooperate. He turned his head and saw a shadow passing not very far from the door. Oliver tried with all his might to fight the drugs that had been given to him, but he couldn’t and his head fell into the pillow.

################################

Diggle had gone home and was now in his living room drinking a cup of coffee, thinking of Oliver and Felicity. He had seen the changes in the vigilante’s actions around Felicity since the count had reappeared, but he would never have thought that what he felt was so strong, to the point that the two of them were kindred souls. When he had started working with the archer, he found his methods quite radical, but he had seen a slight change when Felicity had returned to the team. Oliver had moderated slightly, leaving fewer bodies after his return from the island. Without realizing it, they had already found themselves growing closer, but the vigilante was still infatuated with his ex-girlfriend, Laurel Lance.

But after the return from the island, when they had gone to retrieve him, he had noticed the change of behaviour of the young man towards the computer scientist. He had noted how his eyes lit up and a smile appeared every time she came into a room. Oliver was careful about his movements, and listened every time she came up with an idea for a mission. But the young woman seemed completely oblivious to all of Oliver’s actions.

The archer was broken because of his five years in hell, he made no movement towards her, for fear that she would be hurt being in his life. So he began a relationship with the second Lance sister at the expense of the young woman. Oliver had to see Felicity dead to realize that he had made a mistake. 

Now thanks to the videos they had watched, the former military knew that it was only a ruse and saw that the archer was happy, but he wondered how he would react when he would see her in person again. Would he fall into her arms or would his character take control and keep them apart? Diggle would think about that later. For now he had to find the author of the threatening letter, and succeed in talking with his wife. He knew that she had done this to save Felicity, and he had calmed down since his return from the bunker but he was still angry at her.

Lyla's arrival in the room brought him out of his thoughts. His companion stopped sharply when she saw him, she did not think he would find him at home. 

"Johnny!! What are you doing here? I thought you'd be at the bunker with the others.”

"I know that is what you would have expected Lyla. Then you wouldn’t have had to explain to me how you could have made me believe one of the most important people of my life was dead,” he said his voice becoming stronger.

"I'm so sorry John, I didn't want to betray you, but when she came to me and showed me that letter, I had to help her, I knew you considered her your little sister."

"So instead of coming to me, to tell me, you created this stupid plan where she was shot in front of us?"

"I didn't want anything to happen to you. When I saw that he was talking about you in the letter I was afraid, and you know I don’t frighten easily, but I didn't want my baby to live without his father. I had to come up with a plan quickly and this is the first one that came to mind."

"Faking her death, making us suffer is the only plan you thought of?" he said tapping his fist on the table.

"She didn't want you to know," she cried "and she didn't agree with the plan either, I had to convince her to do so knowing very well that you would be angry with me and that I risked our marriage... "  


"Where is she, Lyla!! Where is Felicity?"

"She is in an old Argus safehouse, hidden with the son of Greg Malone."

"You called Billy, an ordinary detective to watch her instead of one us who are better trained?" he roared. "You're delusional. You think he'll hold his own if he comes face to face with a crackpot like the one who wrote the letter?"

"They are safe John, no one knows about this place. Even Waller thinks that it was destroyed," she cried.

"You betrayed my trust Lyla, a couple can't survive without trust. How could you do this to me? "

"But time was short, I couldn't find anything on this lunatic, even after I managed to watch the surveillance cameras near Felicity’s apartment and at Verdant. When I told her, she wanted to give in to that madman, let him do whatever he wanted to save you. I had no choice Johnny."

"You should have told me you were going to fake her death, damn it!! We work with a vigilante we would have known what to do. The ability to hide his emotions is one Oliver’s strongest traits."

"But John, he wouldn’t have acted normally if he had known."

"Acted how LYLA!! "

"He would have seemed less happy, less like... "

"Like what!! As a man who lost the love of his life?"

"I didn’t know he loved her," she sighed. "I didn’t believe he would have been so devastated, I thought they were only friends."

"They are not just friends, they have never been only friends, since the beginning there was something between them. We just found out that they are soul-mates Lyla."

"I know Felicity told me about the dreams and their connection. Forgive me for lying to you, but I love you so much and I know that she, Oliver and Roy gave you a family again since your brother died. I couldn’t let her be hurt. If I had done nothing Johnny, if we had not faked her death she would have given herself to protect you and I fear she would be really dead. I know she would do anything for Oliver and the team, even dying."

"That's what we'd both do for the men we love. I didn't want you to lose another member of your family, you suffered too much when Andy died.”

"You did all this to save my little sister?" he said, rising and approaching her.

"Of course I would do anything for you to be happy. I don’t want to lose the father of my child, nor the love of my life but if.... "

He cut her off with a kiss, pulling her into his arms. "I love you too. But I'm still angry at you for not telling me. Promise me that you won’t hide anything if it concerns someone in my family, our marriage needs to be built on trust."

"I promise to let you know if I have to help a member of your family, and you have to make me the same pledge."

"I promise too, Lyla. Did you find anything on the lunatic who wanted to take her from him?”

"I hope that I have a real lead. I have to ask Felicity for more information."

"We’ll do it together. Take your phone, we go to the bunker, it will be easier to search with Cisco’s help."

Diggle had never made it to Verdant so fast. He went down the stairs quickly and approached Cisco and Roy who were near the computer station. Lyla, who was typing in a number on her satellite phone for the third time since they left home, was increasingly worried that despite all the precautions she had taken, the man who was after her husband and the team had somehow managed to get hold of her friend. When she didn’t answer, she decided to start again one last time before she left to see for herself.

"Hi Lyla," answered Billy.

"What were you doing? I tried to call you several times," she said angrily.

"Sorry I was out. What's going on? You seem pretty angry.”

"Is Felicity there?”

"No she's in her room at the moment, she was asleep when I went out."

"Get her please. I must speak with her urgently."

"Has something happened to her friends?"

"No!! Billy, hurry up.”

After a short wait Felicity finally came to the phone, "Lyla?"

"I have to ask you an important question about your past Felicity."

"About my past? There is nothing exceptional that happened to me, I told you I couldn’t think of anyone from MIT who could be involved."

"Do you know a man named Ryan Jones?"

"No, the only boyfriend I had was Cooper Seldon."

"And he's dead. You didn't have any other boyfriends, even before you went to MLT. You never pushed a boy away?"

"In general, I repel men, just like with Oliver." 

Felicity was going to apologize for not being able to help when the face of a sixteen-year-old boy appeared from her memory.

"There was a boy, when I was sixteen. I didn’t mention it because I didn’t know him for long. I had to leave him because I was leaving for MIT, I told him that I didn’t have feelings for him and that I was sorry to leave but my studies needed to come first, even before relationships."

"How did he take it? " commented Lyla.

"He was not at all happy that I left. He thought that what was going on between us was more serious than I did. I vaguely remember his face, but not his name. At the time I thought only of my studies, I knew him because I helped him with a project. We saw each other in the library. Why are you asking about this boy? What did you find Lyla?"

"You remember when I told you that I knew someone who could help me with the camera?" She didn't wait for a reply. "I found out that a man had bought this kind of device just over a year ago, his name was Ryan Jones, he works in the Finance Department of Queen Consolidated.” 

"He was the one who was watching us, who took the pictures and wrote the letter!!!," said Felicity.

"If he spied on me for so long he will go after Oliver too," she cried.

Lyla heard a loud noise over the phone, as if she had fallen, then the voices of Billy and Felicity screaming at each other, and then the screaming of the young woman. Lyla cried out the detective's name into the handset, worrying again that Jones had found them.

"Billy.... Billy answer me. "

"Lyla, I'm here, sorry but I never thought that this woman knew how to throw a punch," he sighed. 

"She tried to escape, surely to go to you. She panicked. She is frightened for her friend Oliver. I tied her to a chair with my handcuffs. She's not happy."

"You must understand, her friends and the man she loves may be in danger."

Billy felt his heart crack again at the words of his father's friend, he knew he had no chance, but it still hurt to hear someone say that the woman he was in love with loved another man. Lyla asked him to keep an eye on the computer scientist, and they went back to work to find Ryan Jones.

"Did the seller give you an address?" asked Diggle.

"Yes. I went to where he lives and I can tell you that this man is obsessed with Felicity. There were pictures of her on the walls. Pictures when she was all alone at home, when she was coming out of the shower wearing only a towel, when she was with Oliver, and many others."

"And I'm sure you didn't find any fingerprints. But how did you know that he had worked at Queen Consolidated?”

"I saw a badge from QC with his name and ‘Finance Department’ on it, but the photo had been destroyed."

Cisco was looking for everything he could find about this lunatic as Felicity mentioned that he was from Vegas, had gone to the University of Nevada and had been hired by the finance department of Queen Consolidated. He had no run ins with the law since arriving in Starling three years ago. Then finally they got to see the face of the young computer scientist's stalker.

Diggle suggested they call Oliver so he could come back to the lair, now that they knew his identity. By the time the call connected, he barely had time to get in a word and he heard what sounded like a brawl and then a howling voice.

"I'll kill you Arrow.... "

"OLIVER.... Oliver... " shouted Diggle. "Lyla call Captain Lance and tell him to meet us at Felicity’s apartment. Roy follow me. We need to help Oliver now!"

The two men ran towards the stairs, while Lyla made the call to Captain Lance. They all hoped that nothing serious had happened to the archer.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity’s stalker is out for revenge - his sights set on Oliver Queen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks my beta LLingall

Jones was in front of Felicity's apartment, he had waited for the archer for several hours before Oliver arrived at the apartment. At first when he had seen the man get off his motorcycle he had almost rushed out of the car to throw himself at him, but had turned back. 

He would wait for the right moment, he had to be sure that his enemy had taken the gift he had left behind. So he stood there, watching the hours pass over his dashboard, the day turning into night. He wondered when the archer would decide to go to sleep since it seemed like the lights of the apartment were always on. Jones became more and more annoyed. Later that night, he saw the shadow of the vigilante at the window, scrutinizing the horizon, then the lights were extinguished, he waited a little while longer before leaving the vehicle.

Exiting his car he surveyed his surroundings to make sure no one was on the street, that no one could identify him later when the police would find the body. He stepped up to the door and picked the lock, in a few moments he had entered without making any noise and pulled out a small flashlight from his jacket as he moved further into the apartment.

At first he scanned the pictures of the woman he loved on the bookshelf, stroking her face through one frame remembering that tonight he would finally get his revenge. He continued into the kitchen and grabbed a kitchen knife, its blade reflecting the light of the moon that shone into the room. He inspected the water bottle he had left on the counter and was able to see that the archer had drunk most of its contents. He was pleased. This meant that the archer would be weakened, his body would be partially paralyzed. Jones could attack him and stab him several times without retribution. 

He retraced his steps and walked through the living room again, avoiding the furniture, then headed for the door to the bedroom that lined the wall.

Moving towards the last door with caution, he saw it ajar and gently pushed it open with the blade of the knife. He took a few steps in the room and saw a body resting on the bed. He paused for a moment to take in the man who had taken his Felicity. This vigilante who had selfishly brought this wonderful young woman whom he loved since he was sixteen years old into his crusade, putting her in constant danger. She had paid the price. His rage burned as he approached the bed waving the knife ready to strike a mortal blow to his enemy Oliver Queen.

############################

Felicity was still handcuffed to the chair. Billy dared not look at her. He was angry that he had to resort to tying her up, but it was out of the question for him to allow her to throw herself into the wolf's mouth to save her friend. Lyla had called him from Coast City to watch and protect her and he would do it even if he was angry with her. He dared to raise his eyes and looked upon her wrath filled blue eyes.

"You're happy that you had to tie me up," she spat.

"No. I had no choice, you were going to leave for.... "

"To save Oliver... yes," she cut him off. "I’m warning you. If something happens to him, you will regret it."

"You know my priority is to protect you " he said as he got up, "I know you love this man but.... "

"You did this because you're jealous," shouted the young woman.

"Of course not… I did it because I don't want anything to happen to you Felicity. I may have feelings for you, but I know very well when there is no chance for me. But if I had let you go and that madman had hurt you Lyla would have hunted me down... your Oliver would have hunted me too, and I would never have forgiven myself either."

"I'm so scared for him, let me go help him."

"No Felicity. You will stay safe here with me until it's over. I will untie you, but don’t try and hit me again or I’ll cuff you again. You understand," He said in a dry tone.

"Yes....And know that I hate you," said the young woman's through gritted teeth.

And I love you thought the detective but he said nothing. He released her hands from the cuffs without looking at her and walked away from the young computer scientist, his heart heavy from her words. Felicity left in the room and slammed the door. He heard her scream with frustration from behind the closed door. 

He knew that she could not escape through the window because of the bars. Billy hoped that this whole affair would end quickly so that she could go back to her city. It was real torture being with her without the chance of being with her. He knew that he would never forget his blond angel who had pierced his heart forever.

#################################

Ryan stood by left side of the bed and raised his arms to strike the archer when he was disruptive by a punch to his belly that sent him reeling backward. When he raised his eyes he could see that the vigilante had risen and was ready to fight.

"You should have been paralyzed, you drank the water from the bottle," he cried.

“My body quickly rejects any drugs that are given to me."

"That’s impossible."

"If you were tortured as much as I have been you would know it is very possible."

Oliver's phone rang, he picked it up quickly, but had no time to answer it when the man in front of him howled and threw himself at him with all his strength. The vigilante dropped his phone, then grabbed his opponent's arm and sent him flying across the room. He ran over to him and proceeded to punch him in the face. The man collapsed on the ground. Thinking his opponent was down for the count, Oliver turned to pick up his phone, seeing Diggle’s name on the caller ID. His head was still spinning due to the drug working its way through his system. As he stooped he caught sight of the other man approaching him again in the corner of his eye. Oliver tried to dodge the blade, but it connected with his arm.

He straightened himself slowly and looked to his opponent, eyes filled with hate.

"You should never have done this," he said, his voice transformed to the Arrow.

"I will kill you. You deserve it after you have taken it away from me," shouted the man in returned as she thrust forward on the archer the arm wielding his knife high in the air.

Oliver did not give him a chance to touch him again as he pivoted and grabbed his attacker from behind, encircling his neck with his arms. He began to squeeze with all his strength.

Meanwhile, Diggle and Roy had arrived in front of Felicity's apartment before the police. When they arrived they found the door half-open and rushed inside. They heard a scream followed by a loud noise. John instinctively pulled out his weapon and advanced towards the source of the noise. When he entered the room he saw Oliver holding a man in a choke hold.

"Oliver stop," cried Diggle.

"No. He tried to kill me and I do not know why!"

“Let go of him," said Diggle as he approached and saw that Oliver’s arm was bleeding.

"Oliver let go. You’re bleeding and hurt."

The vigilante swung his assailant's body away from him. John grabbed a towel draped over a chair to wrap around his friend's arm, while Roy pinned the attacker to the ground.  
Jones regained his breath, growling that he had failed to kill the Arrow. Oliver heard him and began to move toward his so he could punch in again. Diggle grabbed his arm to hold him back.  
"Who are you?" he cried to the man on the ground.

"This is Ryan Jones, Felicity's stalker," said John.

"I've heard that name before. He's the journalist that met with Lance and wanted to interview me."

"How was he able to stab you Oliver?" asked Roy. "You're obviously bigger and stronger than him."

"He drugged me. He left a bottle of water on the kitchen counter so I would drink it and be paralyzed."

"You are a thief Robinhood, you wear your name well," Ryan coughed. "You stole what didn’t belong to you. You stole my Felicity, my love. Because of you, she's dead. She was mine, only mine. You had no right to touch her."

Oliver stalked toward the man, "It was because of you that she had to fake her death." He punched him in the face. "You terrorized her, you threatened her," with every word he hit again and again.

"Stop Oliver, " said Diggle as he pulled Oliver away from the man. "Lance will be here soon and they will arrest him."

"NO...He will not go anywhere, I will make him pay what he did to Felicity." Oliver went back to Jones to hit him but was stopped again by Diggle.

"Don't take justice into your own hands, Felicity wouldn't want that. She doesn't want you to kill anymore, don't forget how upset she was when you killed the Count for her.”

Oliver stepped back and looked at his friend. He understand and thanked him for stopping him from doing anything foolish. As the two men turned to head towards the bed Jones seized of the knife at his side and threw it into the archer's shoulder, which was wounded. John turned and grabbed the man by the shoulder.

Jones screamed in pain. "You are dangerous to her," cried the man through gritted teeth. "And I will do anything to keep her away from you now that I know that my Goddess is not dead. She will come back to me as she should have done all those years ago. She is mine, only mine Arrow."

Roy stepped in front of Jones and smacked him in the face knocking him unconscious for good this time. Diggle helped the vigilante over to the bed and removed the knife from his shoulder.

"We're going to have to get you to the bunker to heal you," said Diggle.

"We can’t leave him there, if he wakes up he will get away."

His former bodyguard was going to replicated when several policemen entered to the apartment. Lance followed, entering the the room a moment later. He saw that Queen and Jones were both wounded and called for an ambulance. Quentin looked at the man on the ground and recognized him as the reporter who had visited his office yesterday. 

He was ready to accuse the archer when John jumped in to explain that the man on the floor had attacked his friend, showing him the arm of the vigilante. When the paramedics arrived they took the false reporter, and asked Oliver if he wanted to come to the hospital. Oliver replied that his wound was not too bad. Lance nodded and told him to come into the station to give his statement.

By the time it was just the three of them in the room, John told his friend to return with him to the bunker so that they could heal his arm and shoulder. When they arrived they saw that Lyla was still there. Cisco left to return to his hotel and informed them that he could not stay any longer since his colleague Caitlin Snow had called with an update on Barry’s condition. He had to return to Central City immediately. 

The Archer nodded and told Cisco he would call him later to update him on Felicity’s stalker. He thanked him for everything he had done. Oliver jumped up on the medical table waiting for John to start stitching him up, but his gaze moved to Lyla. He did everything in his power to keep calm, but inside he was boiling with anger. Unable to remain silent any longer, he began to speak in his voice of Arrow.

"You're going to tell us the whole truth, Lyla. Who is this man? "

"Felicity told me that it was a man she had brushed off when she was sixteen, she was helping him with homework."

"He harassed her because she pushed him away when she was young," growled the archer.

Lyla continued, "he had fallen madly in love with her. He thought what they had together was serious, but for her there was nothing. When she left for MIT he couldn’t bear the rejection."

"He's completely sick," said Oliver.

"He was obsessed with her. Lyla found pictures of Felicity that covered a whole wall of his apartment. Pictures of her at work, in the street and also in quite intimate situations. " (Is this Diggle speaking?)

Oliver hardened his gaze at Lyla, rage building. 

He got up and took a few steps towards her, "Then you had no better idea to protect her other than to make it look like the woman I loved for years had died in my arms," he shrieked, his anger exploding.

"I'm sorry Oliver but I had no choice considering the circumstances."

"You had no choice," he turned and launched himself off the medical table in her direction. "We always have a choice Lyla."

"Not this time. I had to act quickly, we didn’t have time."

"I want to see her right away, bring her back Lyla."

"I'm going to call Billy so he can bring her back to Starling."

"Who’s this Billy... "

"A friend who’s been watching her, he's a detective from Coast City."

"You left Felicity with a stranger instead of letting us protect her. Do you trust this man? Are you sure that he's not going to hurt her? "

"He won't do anything I assure you Oliver, he’s a good guy," said Lyla.

"How can you be so sure? We don't ever completely know people. Diggle and I are proof, two women we know well have lied to us."

"He has protected her with its life.... " She turned to call the detective without finishing her sentence. She didn’t want to disclose something that would anger the vigilante, but the archer did not let her take another step.

"What are you still hiding from us Lyla? Felicity is hurt, but you don't want to tell us, right?" Oliver stepped towards her, as she did not reply to him." Why did you stop talking? Damn it, tell me what happened. You've already lied enough!"

"It's better that you don't know Oliver."

"Tell us what's going on Lyla," asked Diggle. "You just made me a promise."

Lyla let out a huge sigh, resigned to share with them what Billy had confessed to her two days ago when she had himt on the phone. She was just worried about the vigilante's reaction, he looked like he was already on edge with what had happened with Jones earlier that night.

"He fell in love with her. He said he was overcome by his feelings, and he thinks that he has a chance even if I told him it was impossible."

"I already have enough madman obsessed with her for a living," Oliver said through gritted teeth., "I don't need another."

Lyla did not respond and walked away to call Detective Malone and explain the situation, that Felicity's stalker had been arrested and he could take her back to her apartment. She told him not to tell the young woman that the archer had been wounded. 

Billy hung up the phone, promising that he would bring her back and that they would be there in two hours. Lyla turned to tell Oliver that he could wait for Felicity at her apartment. The Archer thanked John for treating him and then set off to change. When he returned a moment later he said goodbye to his two friends but did say a word to Lyla, still too angry with everything she had done. Eager to see the woman he loved, Oliver took the stairs two by two as he left the bunker.

###############################"

After two hours of driving Billy and Felicity arrived in front of her apartment. They got out of the car together but before she could take a step Billy called out to her. He circled the car and positioned himself in front of his angel. He raised his hand and tucked a strand of hair behind he ear, and then laid his hand on her cheek.

"I am that I got to meet you and I was able to help you with your problem, I only regret that your heart is already taken."

"I'm sorry Billy," she said as she removed his hand from her cheek and started to walk away from him. "Someday you'll meet a woman who will love you. You deserve it, you're a good man."

"I hope she will look like you," He said and shrugged his shoulders. "I'm not heading back to Coast City right away. If you want to talk to me I'm at the Royal hotel."

She smiled at him, laid a kiss on his cheek, and waved goodbye as she went into the building to wait for Oliver. Upon arriving in her apartment she panicked, he was there. Felicity was still afraid that he would not understand why she had done what she did. He might never want to see her again. Certainly in their dreams they had kissed, but she was afraid that the reality would be quite different.

For his part, Oliver had already ruminated for an hour in the apartment of the young woman while he waited, thinking of everything he was going to tell her. He was so deep in his own reflections that he did not hear the door open. But a few seconds after he felt her presence in the doorway, he rose from the couch and slowly approached her. He said nothing, but stared at her intensely. Moving before she did he raised his hand and delicately touched her cheek. Felicity closed her eyes to her contact.

"Oliver, " whispered the young woman. "I'm so sorry."

"Come," he said as he took her hand and they sat down on the couch. Felicity sat close to him and did not let go of his hand.

Felicity stumbled with her words as she tried to explain how it all started. The first letter that had made him so scared at first, its content with the threats to the team. The Archer explained that Roy had recovered the contents of the safety deposit box only yesterday, because he had not slept in his apartment since Thea had left. Oliver shared that Cisco had managed to decode the two videos that she had left in her computer.

The computer scientist smiled, she would never have thought that Oliver would have asked her friend from Central City to help. She explained to him why she had called Lyla, who was the only one who could help her as a government agent. Her meeting with Billy, a detective from Coast City, who had been very nice to her, and who had stayed with her during her time away. The vigilante gritted his teeth at the sound of the name of the man who had spent a week with his love. 

Had he tried his luck? The fear that Felicity might accept the advances of another man crept into his head. This was not good. Lastly she told him about her decision to accept Lyla's plan. Oliver listened attentively, his eyes never leaving her face.

"I saw the video when Lyla explained her plan to you," he said slowly. “To fake your death " he added in his serious voice.

"I had to make you believe I was dead to protect you, to protect your secrets," she said with regret.

She didn’t realize that the man before her felt anger rising up within him. He was rethinking everything that had happened during this past week, all the pain inflicted by his loss; tonight’s fight, and his jealousy towards the detective. His head was overruling what his heart wanted. He felt surrounded with anger.

"You could have told me," replied the vigilante in a hard voice, the pain reflecting in his eyes, pulling his hand away from Felicity’s grasp.

"No. I couldn't."

“Felicity! You could have trusted me," said Oliver as he became more and more agitated, his muscles tensed.

“Lyla told me…," she tried to interject.

"Stop!! It's about you and me. Not John's wife. I thought I was your best friend, we're partners," he cried in a accusatory voice.

"Oliver you were in danger, I had no other choice. If I had told you about the plan you would have done everything to prevent me from going through with it... you are so protective of me…”

"Of course I am protective of you, I have trained for this life... You are in danger because of me."

"I already told you, this is my life and my choice Oliver. You did not push me into this life, when I joined your crusade I knew what I was getting into."

Oliver got up and walked away from her. He wondered why he was doing it, why he was moving away when he wanted to take her in his arms but he could not suppress his growing anger. He saw that he was hurting her but he could not calm down. He had gone through hell when he thought he had lost her forever.

"Oliver, if you had known the truth, this Ryan... "

"You didn't know who it was until your detective told you."

"What!!! What do you mean!!! You're talking about Billy, but he.... "

"Yes Billy, the one who knew the plan while I thought you were dead."

"If you had known the truth, Ryan would have known that I was still alive. He would have come after you. He would have killed you and I could never accept that... never... not because of me."

"All this has accomplished nothing Felicit. He still tried to kill me last night. You have inflicted all this suffering on me by not speaking to me, by not trusting me to know about this man who harassed you. I was useless!!"

"I'm sorry...I didn't want to.. I'd even let him take me, torture me, kill me instead of you. I... I... "

Felicity had stopped speaking unable to continue. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity. Oliver didn’t know if he wanted to kiss her or to keep her away. It was too hard to hear that she would have died for him.

In conclusion, he looked at the other side and said softly, "we went through several traumatic experiences Felicity. When you were abducted by the count, when you took a bullet for Sara, when you were the bait for Slade. I was there to protect you every time... But this time I was not there because you didn’t trust me."

"I trust you Oliver but it was the only thing to do. It wasn't your job to protect me this time, I had to do it myself.”

"It's not up to you to die for me Felicity... You should have told me once Lyla told you about her plan. You should have warned me that you were in danger," he cried.

"Lyla explained to me that I could not tell you, I tried to explain to her that I could not hide it from you, that it was impossible for me to let you believe I was dead. But she told me that it would be too difficult for you to hide the fact that I wasn’t dead unless you were present. I was so afraid that something would happen to you that I accepted, you have to understand me…”

"I believed you were dying in my arms" the vigilante says cutting off her explanation. "I would have taken your place if I could. I begged you not to leave me Felicity! When I saw your body on that fucking autopsy table I felt so guilty."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"How could you do this to me, we do this while....? "

"Yes? "

She looked at him waiting for him to keep talking but he turned to the bookshelf.

"Nothing. I got wrong that's all. I thought there was something but it's over now,” said Oliver.

"Okay I understand," she said, wiping her tears. She was sinking, feeling her heart crashing. "I did what I thought was right, I don't know what to say to convince you. Do you want me to leave the team?"

The sadness and the guilt in her voice was obvious, she gave him the choice, as always. The young woman looked at him waiting for him to speak, but the vigilante said nothing. Felicity knew that he would never forgive her. She had hoped that he would not blame her for the dreams they had shared, but it had only been a fantasy. She rose from the couch and walked to the door.

"I will remove my belongings from the bunker within the hour and you will never hear from me again."  


She turned to look at him one last time, "I... I'm so sorry, Oliver. But if I had to do it again, I would do the same thing to protect you. Dying scares me, but saving your life is more important to me."

She placed her hand on the doorknob and gently opened the door, she turned round to look at him again but his back was turned. Felicity could see his fists clenched. She still hoped that he would change his mind at the last moment, but he did not move, even to the sound of the opening of the door. Felicity knew then that she had completely lost him. Tears fell down her face as she walked out of the apartment. She whispered one last goodbye and then closed the door behind her. Her life in Starling City was over.


End file.
